Do you remember Lance Corporal Jones from Dad's Army.

Among his many catchphrases was the immortal line: "Don't panic, don't panic."

Of course, while he was shouting this out he was patently panicking.

I couldn't help but think about Lance Corporal Jones when I read two reports in the Guardian last week.

First off we have a council spokesman telling us not to panic about the so-called Warrington Western Link by-pass which – if it ever goes ahead – will connect the A56 Chester Road with the A57 Sankey Way in Great Sankey, effectively easing traffic pressure at Bridge Foot.

I realise this may not be a popular view with people in Lower Walton or Sankey Bridges but I'm a big fan of the plan.

The town really needs to do something to mitigate the appalling town centre traffic congestion and sooner rather than later.

And there's the problem.

Warrington isn't the master of its own destiny where this particular scheme is concerned. It needs the government to turn out its pockets or rummage down the back of the sofa at the Department for Transport (DfT) and come up with some cash.

When I say some cash, what I really mean is an eye-watering £142.54 million.

No wonder the DfT is dragging its feet.

As the Guardian reported, senior figures at the Town Hall were previously told a decision on the plan would be made by May this year.

Now it looks very much like the announcement will be made 'in the coming months'.

Just like Lance Corporal Jones, we are being told not to panic when a council spokesman said: "We can confirm that no decision has yet been made as to whether the Warrington waterfront Western Link scheme has been successful in securing funding. (When did it become a 'waterfront' project?) "We are in regular contact with the DfT, having received a number of updates, so we are not concerned about the delay.

"The Warrington waterfront Western Link scheme has a strong business case and we remain hopeful of a positive decision on funding."

So don't panic, don't panic (my words, not the council's spokesman's).

And it seems like that sentiment is spreading.

Earlier in the year, it was me who was panicking when Steve Park, managing director of Warrington & Co, said not one restaurant had signed up to the council's flagship town centre regeneration scheme, the £130 million Time Square project.

But it looks like Mr Park's Lance Corporal Jones-esque 'don't panic' message was more on point than my own gloomy prediction.

At last week's supporting the local economy policy committee meeting, Mr Park said: "We are on programme from a construction point of view, the budget is still on plan as well.

"We have been to what is called Completely Retail, which is the leisure industry conference.

"We have had a very positive conference – we have had a number of meetings with restaurant operators, the groups, very positive conversations.

"We expect to be in deals with them, at least two, by the end of this calendar year, and certainly more come the end of April of next year."

Nice one, Mr Park. I'll stop panicking.

  • The Libraries Partnership Board is the organisation tasked with coming up with the plan to save Warrington's libraries.

Its chairman is Lynton Green, the council's deputy chief executive so you would expect he is a man in the know.

At the moment, it looks like the plan to save Stockton Heath library is the most advanced but poor Penketh library is behind the curve because its future was tied up with the now-defunct Penketh Master Plan.

But wait a minute, according to Mr Green at the board's last meeting, there is a Penketh Mini Master Plan back on the agenda.

We need to know more about this but all we have had is a deafening silence from the council and Penketh's councillors.

It's time to spill the beans on this.