Vans breaking down in shed curtailed campaign (7)
I believe the answer is:
canvass
'campaign' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'vans breaking down in shed curtailed' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
an anagram of 'vans' is 'nvas' which is located in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for canvass that I've seen before include "Survey people for opinions" , "campaign" , "Propose" , "Search for support" , "test what way the wind blows" .)