CLEAN up a derelict shop - that's what a hairdresser has been asking Warrington Borough Council for eight years.

The council owns the empty premises next to his salon in Winwick Street.

"The building is in a very bad state of repair and it definitely affects my custom," said Peter Michael, aged 45, from Knightsbridge Court in Palmyra Square.

The building used to be occupied by Copydraft and Mr Michael has letters from the council from 1998 saying they were hoping to let it out. But it is still empty, the windows are boarded up, the slates are falling off the roof and it has been broken into. Yet it is opposite the new multi-million pound bus station and at the centre of the Golden Square redevelopment.

Mr Michael was especially upset that he has newsletters from the council to shopkeepers telling them to make sure they maintain their shop frontages.

Stewart Brown, chief estates and valuation officer, said: "The council is aware of these issues and is actively seeking a solution. Programmed repair work is due to be undertaken this month. This property adjoins other council land being used as the temporary bus station; consideration is, therefore, currently being given to the long term options for the land and building."