ABERAERON residents and visitors alike have been left aghast after a massive metal pole appeared in the town centre.

It has variously been described as “horrific” and “a blot on the landscape”.

It has emerged that the pole has been put up by the South Wales Trunk Road Agency in preparation for a solar-powered CCTV camera which will monitor traffic speeds once new 20mph speed limits are enforced.

Town councillors, led by mayor Cllr Elizabeth Evans, have now vowed to fight for a better alternative.

“I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw this large, unsightly pole erected in the most visible position on the main A487 road going through Aberaeron, bang in the middle of the town centre,” she told the Cambrian News.

“Clearly this has been a desktop exercise undertaken by someone who has evidently never been in the centre of Aberaeron.”

Cllr Evans added: “Had they only consulted with the local trunk road officers or Ceredigion highways department they would have been told that this is a wholly inappropriate position for the erection of such a pole.

“I am working to get it relocated as a matter of urgency – what on earth were they thinking?”

See this week’s South Ceredigion paper for the full story, available in shops and as a digital edition now