I know it wasn't the most popular of opinions but when the Warrington Western Link was first proposed, I was quite in favour of it.

To be honest, that wasn't even a popular opinion in my own house, but that's a different story.

I am happy to confess that in no small measure, my views were clouded by my daily experience of commuting across Bridge Foot in Warrington's rush hour traffic.

Apart from the bliss of school holidays, my commute has always had the potential to be an absolute nightmare. My personal view was that anything that could take the pressure off the town centre roads had to be a good thing.

I was concerned that some of the proposed routes could have resulted in a load of houses being demolished to make way for the new road but common sense prevailed and we ended up with the least damaging option in terms of people losing their homes.

Now the government has decided to cough up the bulk of the cash, it looks like the bulldozers will be rumbling in fairly quickly and we will finally get our new bridge over the Mersey as part of the plan.

I have to say, though, that my support for the Western Link has waned somewhat since it was first mooted.

I have deep and lingering suspicions that rather than easing Warrington's traffic problems it will actually add to them as the new road opens up more land for housing and commercial development as well as giving better access to the so-called Port Warrington.

Anyway, that horse has already bolted and we will just have to wait and see how it pans out.

But the fact remains, traffic in Warrington isn't great and feels like it is getting worse.

That's certainly the view of parish councillors in Penketh who anecdotally report a noticeable increase in traffic on Warrington Road, one of the major arterial routes into town.

And what do they think has caused this increase? The tolling of the Mersey Gateway bridge of course.

When the Western Link was first announced, I attended a number of the protest meetings, one of which was addressed by Warrington South MP Faisal Rashid.

Once I picked my way through what he was actually saying, he did express concerns that the Western Link would provide another 'free' bridge over the Mersey and would become a rat run for drivers who wanted to avoid the Mersey Gateway tolls.

And he actually put forward the suggestion that perhaps the new Warrington Western Link bridge could be tolled for out-of-towners (while being free for Warrington residents).

Personally I think the suggestion has some merit.

Residents of Halton get to use the Mersey Gateway more or less free (they have to pay a £10 registration charge), so I would suggest if that system is good enough for residents of Runcorn and Widnes, the same system should be good enough for us, the people of Warrington to use our bridge.

Over recent years, I have been a little critical of Cllr Dan Price.

I have nothing against him personally, you understand. My criticism has been about his support for council projects that I consider to be a waste of money in these times of austerity (think £650,000 for a few flagstones and fancy stone bollards in the 'cultural quarter'.

But I have been impressed by his considered and serious stance opposing Brexit.

And he has really gone up in my estimation after he announced on Friday he was resigning from the Labour Party, saying members have been betrayed by leader Jeremy Corbyn over Brexit.

Cllr Price will inevitably lose his position as executive board member for culture and partnerships (and the £10,000 allowance that goes with it).

The Great Sankey North and Whittle Hall ward councillor admits he can no longer campaign for a party ‘that is helping the Tories deliver Brexit’.

He says members have been ‘betrayed by Jeremy Corbyn’s pretence’ of supporting Remain during the referendum after it ‘subsequently emerged he is an ardent Brexiteer’.

Yes, I feel his pain. Well done, Dan Price, well done.