THE borough council is looking to invest in “something better” to replace the town centre water fountains after estimating that the cost to fix them would be £100,000.

As previously reported, Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council decided to permanently switch off the water fountains between the town centre and Eastrop Park after wasting more than £8,000 trying to fix them.

This included spending £58 for a sign asking the public to ‘keep out of the water’, installed last year, despite the fountains having been switched off since 2019.

READ MORE: Eastrop fountains to permanently close after council wastes £8k on maintenance

The council said it decided to permanently close the fountains after discovering that “a significant amount of work and cost would be involved” to repair them.

The Gazette asked the council on May 15 how much this work would have cost, and it has finally responded to say it estimates that to switch the fountains on again would cost £60,000 and, when including further works needed to keep them running in the future, the total would be around £100,000.

Council leader Cllr Paul Harvey said: “We have heard what people have said about how they love the fountains at Eastrop. But it seems wrong to spend at least £100,000 patching up the fountains when they will still not be child-friendly or reliable. We will be exploring whether there is something better.

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“We would prefer to invest that money in something new, safe and sustainable that works for the longer term and that children and families can enjoy.

“Given the on-going maintenance and servicing costs, the age of the fountains and the health and safety risk of children playing in water on a stone surface, which it was not designed for, we need to consider options to replace them all together with something new.”

What would you like to see replace the fountains? Let us know by commenting below or email newsdesk@basingstokegazette.co.uk.