There was a week in July that will live long in my memory for two significant but unrelated reasons.

The first is that it was then when I tested positive for Covid. The second reason is that my illness also coincided with the fierce, but mercifully brief, heatwave that saw temperatures in parts of the country reach 40 deg C for the first time since records began.

(Believe me when I say running a Covid temperature at the same time as a heatwave is no one’s idea of fun.) In the great scheme of things, I recovered from Covid and the temperature cooled down. Having caught coronavirus once, it certainly made me more cautious about not wanting it a second time.

And frankly, I don’t want to go through that kind of heatwave again.

Yes, I know there are climate change deniers out there (it’s only a couple of weeks ago that contrarian pundit and commentator Julia Hartley-Brewer appeared on Question Time and dismissed droughts, floods, heatwaves and storms as ‘weather’) but the overwhelming evidence is that climate change is real and is already having devastating consequences.

And with that in mind, I was delighted to see the proposal for production of low carbon hydrogen at Stanlow which will be transported by underground pipelines across the North West. The idea is the HyNet North West Hydrogen Pipeline will pump the gas to industrial users and there is a potential to blend hydrogen into the existing gas network at Partington and Warburton. It will also link to underground hydrogen storage facilities at Northwich.

But it appears the proposals are not problem-free. People across Warrington and the rest of the region gave their views on the pipeline at a recent statutory consultation which has now closed.

From my point of view, the ‘feedback’ from Warrington Borough Council is perhaps the most significant.

It’s fair to say that if the project goes ahead it will have a significant impact on the town with Latchford, Penketh, Cuerdley, Thelwall, Appleton, Lymm, Bewsey, and Whitecross affected.

But the council is most upset and worried about the proposed developments sites at Warrington Waterfront and Fiddlers Ferry that potentially lie in the path of the pipeline proposed by Cadent, the company behind the scheme.

Back in September the company gave assurances it and the borough council were going to work together and were confident the pipeline could be routed so sites allocated for development would not be unduly affected.

But now the council has lodged serious objections to the scheme saying there has been ‘no meaningful discussion’ between the council and Cadent.

The council says it has no alternative but to object because if the Waterfront and Fiddlers Ferry housing and industrial and employment schemes can’t go ahead, more green belt land would have to be released.

Oh dear. On the face of it the green hydrogen scheme looks like it could make a useful contribution towards meeting net zero carbon targets and appears to be something we should all get behind.

But I have a certain amount of sympathy for the council’s stance. Obviously we are at the start of the process but for all our sakes, I would suggest this is a problem that needs sorting and preferably sooner rather than later.

On another topic, as someone who has received some online abuse from time to time, I have a great deal of sympathy for the town’s two MPs.

I have disagreed with both of them for time to time and I also think voters have a right to question and criticise their elected representatives but abuse, on line or otherwise, is simply unacceptable.

And here’s the problem summed up much more succinctly than I could ever do. A tweet from the Warrington Guardian recently said: “This is really concerning. Whatever your political opinion, our MPs Charlotte Nichols and Andy Carter shouldn’t have to be subjected to this level of abuse on a daily basis.”

And what did the first response to this tweet say? “To be fair, Andy Carter deserves it.”

No he doesn’t deserve abuse. He really doesn’t.