AS SOMEONE who bought my first guitar from Woolworths in Winsford shopping centre I wholeheartedly agree with the need to improve this failing shopping centre.

However, it does surprise me that the petition is aimed at Cheshire West and Chester Council.

As stated in the Guardian article, the shopping centre is privately owned by MAR properties and negotiations between CWAC and MAR have been extremely difficult.

Perhaps the anger over the shopping centre should be directed at those in the past who sold it into private hands in the first place.

That decision has led to councillors like myself banging our heads against a brick wall trying to deal with a private company who don’t seem interested.

I and other Winsford councillors will keep on banging the drum to get improvements as this has been the number one issue in the town since I was first elected in 2011 and, for me, the most frustrating.

Cllr Stephen Burns Swanlow and Dene Ward