IT'S highly regrettable that Peel Ports seems completely unwilling to consider repainting the swing bridges over the Manchester Ship Canal.

As you may know, my constituency office is a matter of yards from the London Road swing bridge.

I cross the bridge regularly so I can see the state that it is in.

I understand that any redecoration would cost money but we aren't talking about the Forth Road Bridge here.

It's difficult to see how it could take much more than three months to paint all of the bridges.

Why does this matter?

The swing bridges are key landmarks on the route into the centre of town from the south.

As such, they form part of the impression visitors to the town have of it.

Not least because the extent of Warrington's traffic problems means that drivers tend to have more time to survey the state of the bridges than they might wish!

Having bridges that look tatty and uncared for gives the impression that the town itself is tatty and for.

Nothing could be further from the truth – Warrington is a thriving town and its bridges should reflect that.

Under the terms of the original Manchester Ship Canal Act of 1885, responsibility for maintaining the bridges is given to the Manchester Ship Canal Company, now owned by Peel.

Peel do a reasonable job of maintaining the bridge swinging mechanism – considering the age of the bridges it's surprising how rarely they do actually stick – but maintenance means more than just keeping the bridges working.

I've raised this matter directly with Peel Ports but they flatly refused to take any action – so I'm now supporting a petition to put pressure on them to change their minds.

You can add your name here: change.org/p/peel-ports-our-swing-bridges-need-painting.

This is my last column of 2015. It's been a fantastic year for me and I'm very grateful to all those Guardian readers who placed their trust in me in May. For those of you who did –and those of you who didn't – I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a peaceful and prosperous 2016.