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Action comes amid rising costs of repairs

Peterborough’s fountains are to undergo a series of tests to avoid a repeat of last year’s on-off scenario that dogged the attraction last summer.

A series of technical difficulties meant that while it was possible to start the Cathedral Square fountains, the water jets would not remain working for any meaningful time.

In a bid to fix the problem, Peterborough City Council forked out £21,934 last year on repairs to the fountains – out of a total £27,047 spend on the water feature that includes regular running expenses – one of the largest amounts spent on the attraction over the last eight financial years.

The fountains in Cathedral Square, Peterborough, in a rare full flow display during a 'difficult summer' last year.

Councillor Steve Allen, deputy leader of the council and Cabinet Member for Communication, Culture and Communities, said: “Tests on the fountains will be taking place shortly.

He said: "It was a challenge last year and I’m hoping this year will be a lot better – we need to get it right as we don’t want any setbacks at the last minute.

He added: “Without the fountains working the city centre does not have the attractiveness it deserves.”

The fault with the fountains last year only came to light when council officers tried to switch on the water for the first time on June 22.

This graph shows the sums of money spent on Peterborough's fountains by Peterborough City Council each year since 2015.

There followed what a council spokesperson described as: “A particularly difficult year, during which officers worked tirelessly with experts to diagnose a series of faults, and this led to the fountains operating intermittently.”

Emails and letters between the council officers and service companies, that have been disclosed under a Freedom of Information request from the Peterborough Telegraph, reveal the search for a solution covered computer software that wrongly turned the fountains off because it thought the weather was too windy, a start-up procedure anomaly or a failure to properly drain and clean the water tanks.

A council spokesperson today (April 13) said: “We are currently testing the fountains ahead of a planned switch-on for this year and hope to make an announcement shortly.

"We traditionally switch the fountains on during prolonged periods of warm weather between April and September - there is no set start date or criteria for doing this.”

Peterborough's fountains to undergo testing in bid to avoid repeat of 'challenging' last summer