AN ugly concrete structure or an unlikely monument – regardless of how Newton Aycliffe residents felt about their town centre ramp its removal certainly got tongues wagging.

This week, the large concrete ramp linking Beveridge Way and Beveridge Walkway in Aycliffe Shopping Centre was demolished, as part of a £2m scheme to revamp the town centre.

For years the ramp dominated the area and its demise sparked a lively discussion among members of the popular Facebook group What’s so good about Newton Aycliffe?

Many residents, who have grown up with the ramp, simply wrote “RIP ramp,” with others labelling its removal as a “waste of money.”

One resident argued it should have been knocked down years ago, while another wrote: “It can only be a good thing tidying the town up but we need better shops too.”

Sedgefield MP Phil Wilson, meanwhile, whose constituency office overlooked the ramp, said: “It is another positive step in the redevelopment of the town centre.”

Newton Aycliffe town centre is owned by Freshwater, a private property management company.

The ongoing makeover is the second phase of plans to improve the main shopping area and will see the tired shopping area transformed into a pleasant space, with attractive street furniture, shrubs, new paving and spruced up shop fronts.