HAVING read the story on plans to transform Winsford Shopping Centre into a "dream town", I am left wondering, where is this clouded land full of cuckoos in which they seem to be living?

Changing the look of the shopping centre with "dramatic new gateways" will not alter the fact that it is a 30-year-old disaster and suffers from two fundamental problems.

Firstly, the whole area is too restrictive and the lack of space for expansion fails to attract significant high street retailers.

Secondly, Winsford is not an area of high prosperity (no disrespect intended).

The average shoppers don't have enough disposable income in their pockets. Why do you think the big stores pulled out in the past?

The Grainger Group director says: "We have already carried out substantial improvements". He goes on to say the new plans are "radical". The Oxford Dictionary's definition of "radical" is "going to the roots" so I hope that in building terms that translates to demolition, right back to the foundations.

Vale Royal Borough Councillors when considering these plans should accept that Winsford Shopping Centre was a planning disaster 30 years ago and should not allow any money, public or private, to be poured down its drains.

May I suggest to the borough council, that the town centre should not be allowed to crawl slowly to its death. They should kill it off as soon as possible, while drawing up plans for a new modern shopping centre on the land behind the Verdin Centre.

May I further suggest, the borough council goes to the "major stores" across the country and asks them, what it would take to get them into Winsford?

I don't think many, if any, quality stores will be attracted by "dramatic new gateways" or "a covered performance platform".

M HARVEY

Winsford.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.