IF you were hyper-sensitive about Warrington being regarded as a cultural desert, then what would be your plan of action?

Option A: Close down the town’s main library, the first of its kind in the UK, and scale down operations at several branch locations.

Option B: Commission a London artist to paint a huge mural on the side of your lottery-funded arts centre down the road, to make yourself feel better.

Another alternative, if you’re one of our arts and leisure gurus at LiveWire (or its sister organisation Culture Warrington in this case), is to do both, as witnessed with the new proposed outsized artwork on the gable end of the Pyramid Centre in the town.

Nothing wrong with a grandiose demonstration of civic pride you may feel (though people forget that its only real rival, the Pink Eye near Sankey Green, was originally fashioned as a giant protest against planning red tape).

But which might benefit the hearts and minds of the populace more – colourful daubs on the old courthouse walls or a fully functioning central library?

Podium has seen the prospective design and – pedantry being a hobby – is unsure over whether the inclusion of Wigan-born George Formby, the creations of out-of-towner Lewis Carroll and a reminder of The Tayleur’s sinking are in keeping with the ambitions of its creators.

Controversial planning applications appear to be LiveWire’s forte, if their low-key efforts to gain approval for their ‘McLibrary’ concept in the Golden Square Shopping Centre months before announcing the plans are any barometer.

In this age of austerity, it is seemingly beholden on all northern authorities to drag the great unwashed back to the Dark Ages, amid grave warnings of budget savings needing to be met.

An arms-length management company?

Perhaps it’s time for Warrington Borough Council to retain a firmer grip.

n I’m resigned to the fact, outside of the Town Hall, there may only be a handful of people truly interested in the direction Warrington takes when it comes to local government devolution.

And at least two of those sad cases inhabit the Guardian’s newsroom, so clearly they don’t count.

But the devolution dance, on whether WBC throws its lot in with the Liverpool City Region, or Greater Cheshire, shouldn’t be strictly for the political purists.

The odds-on favourite looked to be an alliance with our former county partners, in a rerun of our affairs pre-1998.

But the Scouse Question now seems to be a late contender, throwing up a fascinating conundrum.

At first blush, as the largest fish in a relatively shallow pond, Warrington’s standing in a Cheshire union could really be considered a no-brainer.

But the town’s Labour mandarins are extremely wary, presumably having done the maths, of having a Tory mayor foisted upon them by the likes of Macclesfield, Congleton and Chester.

Otherwise why would you opt to become a pauper at Liverpool’s economic feast, relegated to a role as one of the second-class ‘have not’ authorities?

If Halton had been part of the Cheshire set-up then it may have been a wholly different deal but they threw their chips in with the LCR some time ago.

I’m not saying either choice is a guaranteed winner.

But if WBC’s Labour cabal are hoping for anything more than investment scraps from Mayor Joe Anderson and his Mersey chums, I would urge them to ‘calm down, calm down’ for the moment.