It may interest Malcolm Prescott, who collected names for a petition to tidy up the Warren Way shopping parade in Woodingdean (Letters, December 6), to know I tried this in 1994 with respect to getting echelon parking

there. I was told by the highways department the parade's untidy paved area is not the council's responsibility since it is privately owned.

The council is unwilling to spend taxpayers' money working on areas owned by private companies.

The companies collecting rent from the people who lease the shops are responsible for making good the pavement and untidiness of this area, not Brighton and Hove City Council.

Residents of Woodingdean who comment that not enough council tax money is spent there know only too well it usually finds its way to Whitehawk or Moulsecoomb.

-Geoff Wells, Conservative ward councillor, Woodingdean