A HISTORIC fountain being saved by new council chiefs after a public campaign should be moved to a different park, a councillor has claimed.

Councillor Pete West, Green environment and transport spokesman said the Mazda Fountain would be better off relocated to Queen’s Park or Hove Lagoon than retained in the revamped Valley Garden project in Brighton.

Coun West has also raised questions about the annual cost to taxpayers of retaining the 80-year-old fountain, which his party claims is twice as expensive to run as their proposed modern replacements and needs £30,000 investment in its lighting.

The councillor was responding to an announcement by the new Labour administration that they had reversed the previous Green administration’s plans to remove the fountain from Valley Gardens during its £18 million transport overhaul.

The Valley Gardens project has become a priority of the new council administration with Labour claiming he had “listened to the people” in retaining the fountain following a campaign to save it.

Coun West said: “Its current position obstructs planned footways and cycle paths, it is very expensive to maintain and operate and, when it’s working, it soaks anyone downwind within 50m. “It was designed to sit in a lake, not in a park and might be better if it were relocated to a local pond such as at Queen’s Park or Hove Lagoon.

“Meanwhile Labour need to answer how much the running costs will come to and who will pay, given there is currently no revenue budget for it?”

Green party councillors at Brighton and Hove City Council also welcomed the decision to continue with the project but warned that “late-in-the-day” revisions were “ill-informed, unaffordable and may undermine the scheme’s original vision”.

The party also dismissed accusations by the Labour administration that they did not give the major project enough consideration.

Coun West said: “Contrary to Labour’s claims, our Green administration was very focussed on this project. “It has taken years of work, including public consultations, to get to this point and the business case has been highly commended.

“It’s a visionary scheme which will transform this green space and is vital route to the seafront, making it more attractive, accessible and effective both as a park and as a transport corridor.”