“Is this an April fool?”

While the long-awaited ramp access to the Banking Hub has been welcomed by wheelchair users this week, overall it doesn’t seem to have gone down too well with residents.

It’s taken 15 months for the ramp, which is temporary until a permanent one can be installed later this year, to materialise, with the delay caused by the hub coming out onto a trunk road’s pavement.

The planning process has dragged its feet, but over the weekend the new ramp was finally put into place – however, it has been criticised for its look and the space it is taking up on the pavement.

“If this an April fool, coz it’s a bit early?” said one response to a Facebook post by Cllr Richard Church, who heralded: “At last, a ramp has been installed.”

The awkward looking structure has to incorporate the incline to the bank entrance, and also space for an ATM to be installed at a later date.

But some of the replies to Cllr Church’s post included:

“What a bloody joke, who was the bright spark who designed this ugly monstrosity and gave the go ahead for it?”

“Who in God’s name did the planning for that needs to go back to college.”

“What a monstrosity! What happened to the conservation area?”

And in typical Welshpool-style, the comments became light hearted with the pick of the bunch being: “Don’t know what you’re all moaning about. This council is lightyears ahead. You obviously haven’t realised that they have saved us thousands of pounds by combining the access to the hub with the skatepark!”

Many commenters mistakenly thought the county council was responsible for the design and cost of installing the ramp, which is the responsibility of Cash Access UK, who operate the Banking Hub. However, they would have given permission and it appears that with all the issues highlighted above, this was the only option.

It is also believed that the bench in front of the ramp will be moved so that there will be more pavement space between the ramp and the road.