Peterborough's fountains to remain switched off after public poll

In a social media poll, 60% of people favoured the fountains in Cathedral Square, Peterborough, staying switched off

A city's fountains will stay switched off this year after a social media poll to get residents' views.

Peterborough City Council organised the vote to help decide the future of its decorative fountains in Cathedral Square.

The authority said they usually costed £20,000 a year to maintain and it could take more than £35,000 to get the water feature up and running this year.

In the poll, 60% of people favoured them being switched off.

The council said its yearly spend on the water feature, which is 13 years old, included routine maintenance, water testing and the cost of water and chemicals.

At least an additional £15,000 would have been needed this year to get the fountains working, with them requiring an upgrade to the dousing unit system and pump to maintain the correct chemical balance.

A poll posing the question of whether to get the fountains "back up and running" or "keep them switched off" ran on all its social media accounts.

Conservative council leader Wayne Fitzgerald said there were 4,619 votes, which demonstrated a "fantastic level of engagement".

"The majority of people favoured switching them off - however, we cannot ignore the fact that there was a sizeable group of people who wanted the fountains switched on and recognised the benefits of doing so for our city centre," he said.

"Given that we don't know the full state of repair for the fountains, which are becoming more problematic due to their age, and the investment that might be needed longer term, a thorough investigation will be undertaken to decide whether to operate them in the future.

"We will now begin that piece of work, whilst also looking at how we can invest more widely in our city centre, and in the meantime the fountains will remain switched off."

The full results of the poll across all the social media platforms can be found on the council's website.