Councillor Peter Dowd, Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Bootle and Leader of Sefton Council, visited Adrian Costain's Nisa store in Bootle recently to hear his concerns about business rates, crime and parking policy.

Nisa Retailer, Adrian Costain, said: "We were really pleased to have Peter visit the store and hear about some of the challenges we are facing, especially the cost of business rates on our cash machine.  Whilst we pride ourselves on the services we provide the community, the business rates bill on the cash machine is nothing short of absurd and we are thinking seriously about whether we need to remove the machine."

Peter Dowd, Leader of Sefton Council, said: "I was pleased to meet with Adrian's team and see the great work they are doing to serve their local community.  I acknowledge that the cost of providing the cash machine to the local community is too high and that further action is needed to reduce this cost."

Concerns were also raised about the problem of shop theft, which cost the convenience sector £44 million last year, and the response from the justice system.

Adrian Costain said: "Shop theft is a real problem and we want to see a robust response from the justice system to stop the cycle of offending.  Sadly we also experienced two robberies last year, but thankfully no staff were hurt."

Peter Dowd Visited the Nisa Local in Bootle on Friday 16 January 2015.