People of Peterborough asked 'do you want Peterborough City Council to splash out £35,000 on city's fountains?'

The people of Peterborough are being asked if they wish council chiefs to splash out £35,000 plus of taxpayers’ cash to make the city’s fountains run this year.

As the cost of living squeeze tightens its hold on household budgets, local authority bosses are keen to know if residents feel the costly repairs to Cathedral Square’s ageing fountains is money well spent or just cash poured down the drain.

Now the public is being asked to show the depth of its love for the fountains, which have been a feature of the city centre since its multi-million revamp 13 years ago.

Peterborough City Council has launched a week long public poll through its social media channels and via email to gauge the mood of the city’s citizens.

The move comes after years of problems and expenditure with the fountains. Running the fountains has cost the authority £280,868 from the 2010/11 financial year up to May 20, 2021.

And last year, £21,934 out of £27,047 spent by the local authority on the fountains was for repairs during a summer in which it seemed the water would not stay on for any meaningful length of time.

How do those sums add up?

It is thought the final amount that will be required to keep the fountains running this year could be higher than the estimated £35,000.

But at least £20,000 will be the regular annual costs of the fountains which covers routine maintenance, water testing and the cost of the water and chemicals. In previous years this annual cost has been put at about £18,000.

On top of this, the need for upgrades to the system has been identified that could add another £15,000 to the bill. This would be for an upgrade to the dousing unit system and pump which maintains the correct chemical balance and other works needed to the pit room.

Launching the poll, council leader Councillor Wayne Fitzgerald said: “We have seen in the past couple of years that the fountains are becoming more prone to faltering and of course they require new parts which are often costly.

"This is partly because the fountains are now 13-years-old and, like an old car, they require more maintenance.

“So, we want to throw the question open to you, the public.

"Do you love them or not?

"Should we keep the fountains in good order and get them back up and running this year or should we keep them switched off?”

Council has battled to get its finances in order:

Cllr Fitzgerald said: “For all intents and purposes, we are now a financially sustainable council, which means that we are living within our means.

"To get to this point, we have had to look very hard at every penny that we spend and question whether it’s a good use of taxpayers’ money.

“This is now the situation that we face with the Cathedral Square fountains.

“I know that there are many people who like them, indeed I do - and many children too – and it makes our city centre look attractive, but on the flipside, they are becoming more costly to operate and this will only continue.”

How can I make my views known?

The poll will run on the council’s Twitter, Facebook and Instagram pages from today and run until the end of Tuesday, June 5.

People can also email their views to the council at [email protected]

How did we get here?

The 25 fountains – which consist of a block of 15 jets and another of 10 jets – are the focal part of a £11.6 million refurbishment of Peterborough City Centre that was completed in June 2010 – eight months behind schedule.

The initial switching on of the water feature was greeted with triumph by civic leaders who saw great times ahead.

The then council leader, Cllr Marco Cereste, was reported as describing the fountains as “good from an environmental point of view and there won’t be a huge bill for the council.”

For good measure, he was also reported as saying: “I defy you to go anywhere in the world and see a more beautiful sight.”

Yet within two years, the fountains had been shut down to conserve water after Anglian Water imposed its first hosepipe ban in 20 years.

The fountains were then off for nine months during which the council spent £96,000 on cleaning the filters and installing a new system to allow it to cope with dirt.

The council blamed ‘dirt from children’ playing in the fountains and people washing their dogs, feet, dogs and even mobility scooters for clogging the filters.

It was even suggested that people could be fined for ‘overuse of the fountains’ or that CCTV with loudspeakers could be set up to tell people to keep out of the water.

It was also revealed that the works to the filtration system meant the jets of water would only reach two feet, six inches high rather than the six feet as expected. The jets were originally expected to reach 20 feet high.

The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic meant the fountains were switched off in May 2020 to ensure more ‘social distancing’ space for city centre users.