Peterborough's fountains fail again just days after council's 'we've fixed it' claim

Hopes that a forever fix had been found for Peterborough city centre fountains has proved short-lived.

Just a week after Peterborough City Council chiefs claimed the 10-year-old water feature – the focal point of a £12 million regenerated city centre – had been repaired, the fountains failed again.

It turns out that while the fountains were working as expected for some of last week following a lengthy repair process, the jets of water soon failed.

A council spokesperson, said: "The fountains were on for a period of time last week, but then stopped.

"An engineer arrived today (August 24) and they are now working again."

The fountains have been out of action for most of the summer – one of the hottest on record – due to what was believed to be a technical fault with the sensors.

Last week, a council spokesman said: “Engineers attended the fountains looking to resolve the technical issue which has prevented them from working recently.

“The fountains have now been working for two days and we hope that the issue is resolved.

"However, officers will continue to monitor them over the coming days.”

It was recently revealed the council sets aside £18,000 a year for maintenance and repairs to the fountains although the cash seems to be spent in dribs and drabs.

Over the last seven years, spending has ranged from £3,600 three years ago to more than £43,000 five years ago.