A newly restored fountain has run dry just weeks after a ceremony to mark the end of a £400,000 overhaul which took 10 months to complete.
The Victoria Fountain, in Old Steine, sputtered to a halt as the result of a burst pipe and, even when repaired, won’t be switched back on until next spring.
Water is piped to the fountain from a borehole but the damage to the pipe was not caused by the restoration work, Brighton and Hove City Council said.
Old Steine Community Association chair Gary Farmer contacted councillors after he spotted that the fountain and its lights had been switched off for more than a week.
Mr Farmer said:
“Old Steine is an area of significant neglect, of graffiti, anti-social behaviour, littering and vandalism.
“All of which has never been addressed by the council despite five years of petitioning independently and through the Valley Gardens Forum and the Old Steine Community Association.
“Now we are back to square one again, back to a dark and depressing, dangerously unwelcoming Old Steine, a nightmarish black hole in the city’s heart.
“What should be a centrepiece to be proud of is a no-go area. The Victoria Fountain brought life and light to the area and now it stagnates in the depressing winter gloom crowned with broken bottles and bird droppings.”
Even without water, Mr Farmer said, the fountain should still be lit up, just as the Mazda Fountain in Victoria Gardens is lit up and flowing every day.
But the council said:
“Unfortunately, the Victoria Fountain has experienced a burst water supply pipe from the borehole that feeds it.
“This issue is entirely unconnected with the restoration work we have recently carried out. We are working hard to get it fully repaired as soon as possible.
“However, we always shut both the Victoria Fountain and the Mazda Fountain down each winter. They will reopen at the beginning of March.
“The Victoria Fountain will not now be switched back on and the Mazda Fountain will be shut down next week.
“The Mazda Fountain is not supplied by borehole water so has not been affected by the burst water pipe.
“We will also be carrying out modifications to the Victoria Fountain to help prevent water drift that occurs during windy weather.”
The mayor of Brighton and Hove, Councillor Jackie O’Quinn, formally reopened the Victoria Fountain at a ceremony on Wednesday 11 October.
The grade II listed fountain was financed by John Cordy Burrows and by public subscription – 19th century crowdfunding – to celebrate Queen Victoria’s accession to the throne in 1837.
The Brighton sculptor William Pepper created the fountain’s ornamental dolphins.
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