IS A BRIGG YARD A HIGHWAY?

Call Brigg Blog a shade sad if you will, but we like to read and inwardly digest the official public notices pinned to shops, offices and lamp-posts.
Every so often this old-fashioned journalistic habit pays off. And such was the case on Sunday when we were walking down College Yard and spied a notice on a post outlining that the new Amici's cafe is needing to seek official licensing approval, through North Lincolnshire Council, to put tables and chairs outside, on the pavement.
You may see nothing unusual in that. But the application makes reference to "the highway" and College Yard is blocked off at both ends by bollards. And even if the bollards were removed,  you couldn't squeeze anything wider than an old bubble car through at the Old Courts Road end of the Yard.
We can only conclude that "highway" - in local government circles - does not mean what most of us think it means...a road carrying vehicles.
Several businesses in Brigg Market Place have had to make similar applications relating to tables and chairs outside their premises, but delivery and emergency vehicles can still access that part of the town centre, which is not the case with College Yards, where bollards are in place.