A FOUNTAIN will cost £5,000 a year to repair and protect from vandals.
While hundreds of borough residents enjoy the water feature in Civic Square, a small number keep damaging the lights installed in its base.
The cost of replacing them, and repairing other related equipment, will amount to £5,000 in the financial year 2008/09.
This figure is expected to rise to £5,250 in 2009/10 and to £5,460 in 2010/11, according to a council report to the resources committee.
The report states: “As part of the town centre redevelopment a water feature was installed in Civic Square.
“The annual servicing of the feature for the first four years has been covered. However, the cost of consumables and vandalism is also currently being met by us.
“The water feature has proven to be very popular with members of the public.
“The downside of this is that the feature requires maintenance several times a week.
“As a consequence, it requires a considerable amount of chemical treatments, as well as solenoid valves and replacement lighting, often because of vandalism.”
