THE principle of divide and conquer goes back a long, long way.

It may have originated with Philip II of Macedon and the maxim divide ut regnes (divide and rule) was also used by the Roman ruler Caesar and the French emperor Napoleon.

But perhaps the most famous exponent of divide and rule was Niccolò Machiavelli who expounded its virtues in his book The Art of War.

I wouldn’t go so far as to say the power brokers at Warrington Borough Council are Machiavellian in their dealings with the people of the town but it certainly appears the lessons of history have not been wasted at the Town Hall.

In one fell swoop, the council has managed to pit the people of Penketh, Great Sankey and Sankey Bridges against each other.

And it’s not pretty.

I am, of course, referring to the proposals for the Western Link, a new road that will run from somewhere in and around Walton to somewhere in and around Penketh, or Great Sankey or maybe Sankey Bridges.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m sort of in favour of any plan that reduces congestion on Warrington’s town centre roads – and I speak from the bitter experience of many years of taking on Bridge Foot at rush hour.

Once upon a time, there was one route planned that called for a new high-level bridge over the Manchester Ship Canal.

Now there are six proposed routes. One (the yellow route) will emerge in Penketh, one (the orange route) will emerge in Great Sankey on Liverpool Road and four (the rainbow routes) are planned to emerge at Sankey Bridges and may or may not affect the southern end of Sankey Valley Park.

All the routes as proposed will involve demolishing homes and businesses, some more than others.

So what has the public response been? Three separate pressure groups fighting to ensure the road doesn’t affect their particular area.

We have Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Sankey Squash The Orange and Warrington Western Link Rainbow Routes action group (apparently fighting the red, pink, purple and green routes).

And rumour has it (well Facebook has it) there’s also a group called Say No to Warrington Western Link as well which appears to be against the Western Link in general.

Now I’m all in favour of a little civil protest. I like to see grassroots democracy in action. People organising themselves is a sign they care.

But what is really unedifying is the rampant Not In My Back Yard mentality.

At this point, I think honestly dictates I own up that there is a potential for my home to be affected if one of the routes goes ahead and yes, I will be attending one of the pressure group meetings.

But as Machiavelli succinctly pointed out all those years ago, if you can divide your opposition, you can conquer them and WBC seems to have quite successfully divided the opposition, hence the three – or is it four – protest groups.

But what I find most disturbing is the groups now seem to be turning on themselves.

We have already had tales of members of one group being banned from posting on another group’s Facebook page (although I understand the ban has now been lifted).

But what is far and away the most distasteful lack of unity has been perpetrated by the anti-orange group who issued a tick-box questionnaire with all the reasons why the orange route wasn’t a good idea but went one step further and asked people to tick three reasons why the red route was the best option.

Classic nimbyism if ever I’ve seen it and it doesn’t sit well with me.

Members of the various protest groups would do well to take a leaf from a recent example of the successful campaign that fought to save the town’s libraries.

The campaign didn’t fragment and fight for individual libraries, it was unified and fought for them all.

There is time for lessons to be learned but I somehow feel there is a lack of will.

Just remember Machiavelli – there is strength in unity.