A Welshpool town councillor called the pre-planning of Welshpool’s bank hub ‘”disastrous” with the facility still lacking disabled access nine months after it opened.
At a meeting of the town council’s planning committee on Wednesday, September 11, one planning application up for consideration related to a ramp at the front of the Welshpool Banking Hub on Broad Street.
While disabled access to the hub - which opened in December last year - is in development, a change in regulations means that the planned ramp must be widened slightly, further delaying the process of installing it.
But some councillors have been left frustrated with the delays, as Cllr Nick Howells said: “The pre-planning of hub has been disastrous as far as disabled access is concerned.”
OTHER NEWS:
- Owner of Powys hotel looking for new operators after tenants enter liquidation
- Lloyds bank to close another Powys branch next year
- Powys 'enforcement sites' where speed cameras are monitoring 20mph limit
Cllr Phil Owen added: “I met with CashAccessUK a while back and subject to the necessary planning approval they were hopeful that all the work, for the access ramp and cashpoint, would be completed by Christmas.
“Assurances were given, but what we now have to look at is in the interim is a temporary solution of some non-permanent ramp. They offered us a meeting on that in the near future when we’ll discuss it. As far as I can see we should approve this as we desperately need this.”
Some councillors were still unhappy with the lack of progress and saw this as yet another delay in the process.
Cllr Phil Pritchard said: “I’m a little concerned with this move of saying we’ll have a meeting that likely won’t happen for months and will be elongated.
“The fact is, they promised an appropriate ramp twelve months ago. If there’ve changed the rules fair enough, but anyone who’s arranging that shouldn’t take too long making that alteration. I don’t like these situations where they say they’ll arrange a meeting as it extends it all. If they want to speak to the council tell them to come here.
Cllr Billy Spencer agreeing, saying: “This is the planning committee so they should be meeting our chair to explain why it’s taking so long, why they’re not sticking to the promises they’ve given to the people of this town.
“I think they’re dragging their feet on this. The people of Welshpool need it and they have a duty of care to have it there.”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here