A PETITION has been presented to environmental health officers at Vale Royal Borough Council urging them to safeguard against a rat problem ever escalating in the town again.

The document, signed by more than 222 people including traders in the town centre, was handed in to the authority on Monday afternoon.

The names were collected by a shop assistant who claims that measures taken by Vale Royal and the town centre managers to rectify the rat problem in the shopping arcade were not good enough.

She says that long-term measures should be implemented to prevent a similar situation recurring.

The woman, who asked not to be named, said: "I handed the petition in on Monday, urging the council and the town centre management to continue the rat baiting programme.

"I collected the names because I wanted to voice the concerns of the people who signed the petition.

"We do not want this problem to come back again and to ensure it does not action must be taken," she added.

Vale Royal Borough Council confirmed a petition had been handed in by a woman who refused to give her name.

Clr Brian Jamieson, chairman of the environmental and technical committee, said: "We are pleased to have now received this petition.

"The council received reports of rat sightings in the town and took immediate action. A number of premises were thoroughly inspected to identify the source of the problem. Our comprehensive baiting programme was further enhanced.

"An advice letter was sent to all units in the shopping centre and the environmental health officers have visited food retailers to ensure that there is no risk to public health.

"The petition asks for a baiting programme to be upheld in the town centre. The council already proactively treats public sewer and drain systems on behalf of North West Water Ltd and the shopping centre management and a number of individual shops also employ private companies to carry out pest control within areas of their private responsibility."

Clr Jamieson assured the people who have signed the petition that as a matter of policy there is an ongoing programme of baiting throughout the borough, including Winsford.

"We are all grateful of the opportunity to see this petition and reassure the public that what they are petitioning for is already in place."

Paul Bateman, Winsford town centre manager, said: "Winsford shopping centre has always baited specific areas throughout the town on a monthly basis for pest control.

"More recently, however, in the light of recent reports that rats have been sighted around the outside of the shopping centre, the centre manager, on behalf of Grainger Trust Plc, has employed the services of a private pest control company to serve the shopping centre's needs.

"As a matter of course, the centre management has also taken steps within the centre to ensure that the drainage gullies have been cleaned and sealed so that no ingress can be gained.

" I would like to reassure the general public that Winsford Shopping Centre is no different to any other centre in the country. There are always going to be rats around such places, but to suggest that Winsford has a problem is totally unjustified and in fact more positive action is being taken by Vale Royal Borough Council and ourselves in the pest control treatment than most other centres."

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