THIS set of steps with its unique design was meant to add to the new look of Chepstow town centre.

But nine months and a number of trips and falls later, the steps are to be ripped up and replaced at a cost of £6,000.

The turret steps in Chepstow are part of the town centre's regeneration scheme. They were finished in March 2005.

In the last nine months, Monmouthshire council has made pay-outs of between £1,000 and £2,000 to two people and another two claims are still going through council insurers.

Many other residents have requested changes to the design. Councillor Phylip Hobson told the Argus: "I have tripped on the steps myself, as have a number of my constituents.

"They should have put in a flat footway from the start. It's one of many examples of the over-engineering that went on when planning regeneration. It may seem like a minor detail but of course it is not to the people who suffered accidents."

Rick Longford, economic development manager at the council said: "We know there's a potential problem which we need to deal with before the matter gets worse."

He said the problem with the current design is the tapered steps, which are very shallow and easily go unnoticed.

The new scheme removes these steps and replaces them with a flat footway permanently to remove any risk of falls.

Jacqui Sullivan, a local trader and member of the regeneration committee, said: "We did have a lot of people stumbling over the steps particularly early on."

Chepstow's Mayor, Armand Watts described the steps as a "fundamental design error".