The decision to instal a lamppost in the middle of a pavement has been widely mocked on social media this weekend.

Positioned on the lower end of Kind Edward Road, Douglas, the light is part of Douglas Council’s work to replace its aged lampposts at the northern end of the promenade which the Department of Infrastructure has chosen not to include in the regeneration scheme.

The work has been ridiculed, with residents on social media noting it would not be possible to get a pram or wheelchair down the hill without being forced to go onto the road.

However, council leader David Christian told the Examiner that staff had noticed the error over the weekend and that it would be moved as soon as possible. Mr Christian also said the contractor, Stephen Christian and Sons Ltd, was to blame for the mistake, not the council.

A spokesman added that the lamppost can’t be placed at the back of pavement, it is therefore understood it will occupy a space nearer the road, similar to the existing lampposts which are being replaced.

The lamppost which has been installed is also understood to be the wrong type and that a standard light is due to be installed there.

The DoI is installing lampposts only along the sea side of the promenade which will illuminate both sides of the road.

However, the department is not replacing the lights beyond Summer Hill to the point of Douglas’s boundary with Onchan where the older columns remain, worn by years’ worth of facing the island’s weather.

We have previously reported that Mr Christian said the authority has chosen to replace existing columns itself saying they were worn and ’tatty’ and he criticised the DoI for not doing the lightning all the way along Douglas’s sea front, a decision he said was ’nonsense’.

At the council’s July meeting, it was confirmed the work to replace the lights is due to be completed by April 2021.