A landmark fountain stopped working for a week – less than a year after a 10-month restoration project costing £400,000.
A celebration was held last October to mark the renovation of the Victoria Fountain, in Old Steine, Brighton, but last month the water stopped flowing.
Old Steine resident and business owner Gary Farmer included the failure of the fountain in a list of issues that, he said, had dogged the area and indicated council neglect.
Mr Farmer, founder of the Old Steine Community Association and a director of the Valley Gardens Forum, took a senior Labour councillor on a walk around the area earlier this year to show him the problems.
But since February, when Mr Farmer raised his concerns with Councillor Trevor Muten, a member of Brighton and Hove City Council’s newly formed cabinet, the problems have worsened.
Mr Farmer said: “Nothing has been done to address any of the issues raised.
“Yet again it feels like you have all abandoned Old Steine to the litter, graffiti, drunks, anti-social behaviour, potholes, tagging and everything else that is wrong with the area.
“The fountain has been off now for days. Why? It is summer and visitors are here. Tourists flock to the area and are presented with an empty and forgotten wasteland. It simply isn’t good enough.
“I am left in amazement by the council’s outright neglect of Old Steine. It is simply awful and you should all hang your heads in shame.”
Mr Farmer runs a language school in Old Steine which brings thousands of international students a year to Brighton.
He was concerned not just about the fountain. Large parts of Old Steine are grassless after festival season, with the Spiegeltent having been based in the area in May.
Event or venue organisers are usually responsible for restoring parks and grass areas as part of their hire contract with the council.
But work on the layout of the area is expected to start later this year as part of a £13 million project known as Valley Gardens phase 3.
The council said: “The Victoria fountain was temporarily out of action for just over a week after a small leak was detected from an underground pipe.
“This has now been repaired and the fountain is working again.
“Work to fully restore grass on the area of the Old Steine which hosted the Spiegeltent will take place during the construction of Valley Gardens 3.
“As part of Valley Gardens 3, we will be creating new paths in this area and, once that is complete, we will re-landscape the entire gardens – including where the Spiegeltent was.
“We do not want to spend money fully restoring this area when improvement work is already planned.”
Its just probably a pump problem easily solved, as for the grass are why dont rhe council put a gauze surface to protect the grass which will soon come back after an event. In the lake district loads of carparks are like this and works well.
I quite agree with this. I wanted to look at getting this for a couple of street corners where cars regularly cut over the grass verges.
posts are better, stops the parking on verges and corners
People drive into them, destroying them, in my experience.
I think we’re just used to the embarrassment of such things now and given up hope. I don’t even invite friends, or family to Brighton anymore. We’re living in a dystopian shell of a town we used to be proud of.
I think that’s a bit melodramatic, David.
Everyone i know loves visiting Brighton. I guess they don’t come for polish and neat rows. They like visiting because Brighton is quirky. Sometimes foundations break but the good news is that it was quickly fixed !
Brighton has fallen. Get out if you can…
Why is the council spending money restoring a site after it has been used for an event. Surely the promotor should cover the costs? We should not be subsidising private companies profits from our public spaces.
And I am sure that the council has penalty clauses in the contract for the fountain that covers defective work. Otherwise this would just be an admission of complete incompetence.
All events organisers pay the council to restore the areas they use , sometimes the council does the work sometimes a contractor is brought in , its all paid by the event organiser before they the event takes place
The fountain was working this weekend. Considering it’s age it’s bound to have a few issues.
Er….. it’s literally just had Four. Hundred. Thousand. Taxpayer. pounds spent restoring it !!!
Restoration of the grassed areas should be immediate not wait until its convenient to a contractor to do it. Be like the Ice rink event organisers, its re turfed straight away. Note :This area will be resin gravel in VG3 not grass. The re landscaping will be the last part of the project and will be used as a compound , road works first then re landscaping so you are looking at two years time. Meanwhile this space will be used by the contractors as a works compound . If its anything like VG 1&2 , the area will treated with resin gravel first and then become a the compound for two years and closed off to the public.
The work should still be under warranty for a contract that large, surely?
The grass never recovers, those who say it does really do not know what they are talking about. I live and work on Old Steine and can guarantee that it never recovers. The Winter Wonderland fiasco which led to the Old Steine sinkhole from heavy machinery and footfall in a very wet winter is where it all started. Old Steine is a pitiful excuse for a central park, incident in and around the area are repeated on a daily basis – nothing every changes. As for the fountain there is excuse after excuse as to why it is off more than it is on, what should be a spectacle for visitors and residents is little more than an enormous toilet for seagulls. It is switched off for 4 months of the year because it cannot operate in cold weather and the council have written to me about this. They spend a fortune without any forward planning, the number of messages I have on this matter are limitless and just excuse after excuse. The council should hang their heads in shame, this is old Stein and this is our heritage and should be protected and maintained. Yet another failure by the council, please go and take a look at the area and see what you think.
Watch out for Save our Green Spaces campaign
The problem in Brighton is that there is no civic pride.
Anywhere else you go around the world they take pride in the appearance of their town centre.
It’s something in this country that doesn’t count.
Tatoos, false nails, mobile phones, burgers,…etc that’s what takes priority.
and yet when Government money is spent on improving Western Road everyone is up in arms
Wrong, its working fully
It may be working again now but as even the council said… The Victoria fountain was temporarily out of action for just over a week.
Events on these areas are causing damage to the trees. Brighton holds the national collection of Elms. Trees in this collection are internationally important, and some are the last of their kind. Holding events year after year has seriously compacted the soil all along Valley Gardens. Tree roots need air to enable the tree to flourish. Compaction places the tree under extra strain making in difficult to fight of Elm Disease, which is still present in the city. Imagine if we lost the trees in Valley Gardens. They process pollution from traffic, reduce noise, act as a wind break, and keep the city cool. This is important especially with the effects of climate change and urban heat island effects. It is important to have events in the city, but they should be located in more appropriate areas.
If you have proof of that then please contact the council
Sometimes I enjoy reading the comments here more than the article itself.
There are those whose glass is always half empty, and then there are those who simply use the opportunity to have a moan or else to attack the council, perhaps this week for political reasons.
In this particular case it’s a bit of a non-story, given that the fountain is working again. I also understand that the problem last week related to the water supply, and was nothing to do with the recent restoration.
There’s then the separate issue of the state of the green areas in central Brighton – after we have had endless cuts, and there is no longer much of a parks department. Contractors are now brought in to re-turf a barren grass area, or even to re-seed it, but then there is no follow up – even when the grass cries out for water.
We also rarely see any weeding, because that is too labour-intensive, or costly.
There’s then the Green con approach, like no mow May, or ‘rewilding with wild flowers to encourage pollinators’ – a cheap seeding solution to basic gardening which can still look great, for about two weeks, but not for the other months. If I took the same approach at my allotment, it would count as neglect.
I noticed just last weekend, the brown turf in front of the Pavilion, our show-piece palace. Even with the careful clean up after the ice rink was removed, the turf lines on the east lawns are still very visible, four months on.
For sure, in June we did have a month of no rain, and then we had a short heatwave. For sure, we have to balance commercial lettings with basic housekeeping.
In this case, the council by their own admission, don’t care much about Victoria Gardens because the area is due to be reworked, once the VG3 project starts. That does seem prudent – but only if you think the VG3 plans are a good idea. There are big changes coming, for better or for worse, and it’s a juggernaut they couldn’t stop. Removing the Palace Pier roundabout is the one thing they will come to regret, because it’s a major act of self-harm.
It was only a month ago when, on a random Thursday night city centre visit, I was admiring the Victoria fountain at night, because it was all lit up. But as I walked away, the Falmer bus arrived at stop H next to the War Memorial, and it unloaded a lot of partying students. The boys all ran to the fountain and had a much needed pee into the water. At the bus stop, I could see the beer bottles, rolling about their bus floor.
And I guess this is how we live now. A party town, but with poor night-time facilities, and always a bit rough around the edges. I still love living here.
If asked how I think we should better pay for all this, I’d suggest a tourist tax, before we start discouraging visitors or taxing locals with a congestion charge.
I’m in the glass-half full camp. When I walk around, I only see happy faces in all the people who come here – in stark contrast to the regular moans on social media pages – and long may that continue. If Brighton was a person in crisis, I’d remind him/her/them to keep being you.
Gary Farmer’s overall concerns are entirely valid. And Billy Short’s observations are always worthwhile. As Mr Short says the fountain issues have been explained and are now rectified, as far as possible, as it seems to rely on an elderly water supply from the Royal Pavilion.
Regarding the wider issues of our green spaces it’s worth considering some relevant facts.
The article stating, “Large parts of Old Steine are grassless after festival season, with the Spiegeltent having been based in the area in May.” is misleading. While the caption to the photo, “The Old Steine grass was worn away during the festival month of May…” is not true. The grassless area at the NE quarter was, in fact, scalped as the main entrance to the ill-conceived Christmas funfair of 2021 – and has never been repaired. The area around the fountain was largely grassless following the fountain works. The reality is that large areas of the Old Steine were grassless BEFORE the Spiegeltent season in May. And one of these water leaks flooded the site in the build period, this all requiring even more effort and expense for Spiegeltent to maintain the area responsibly.
Like Mr Farmer we run an important Brighton enterprise attracting thousands of visitors to the city from all around the world and hosting tens of thousands of residents. Brighton Spiegeltent spends tens of thousands of pounds each year on decking and grass protection mesh – and have so for over 10 years, the only event organisers to do this. And the site remains open to all throughout the season. The current drought since May has slowed recovery of the existing grass which is happening – where there was grass…
In our 21st century city, reliant on a visitor economy, we have extensive heritage and ‘protected’ green spaces around Pavilion Gardens. The Old Steine and Valley Gardens spaces must be flexible and versatile offering amenity to all users. There should be practical flower schemes, and grass and seats for rest – ann events. And the business plan on which the Valley Gardens funding is based commits to increased capacity and usage for events. The scheme overall should have included a dedicated event space suitable for these activities but that opportunity has now passed.
So the key to this happening successfully will be involving all sectors of the city in consultation on plans for the devlopment and evolution of Valley Gardens, particularly Phase 3.
VG3 will see more space created for outdoor events. The area around Victoria fountain will have resin gravel not grass. Electricity supply cabinets, same as in Richmond and St Peters Square will be installed .
That’s a bit sad, if you think about it.
A central area with a heritage fountain, which used to have beautiful flower beds around it, is graveled over to make a commercial space.
Only the pathway ring around the fountain to be resin gravel. Presumably for easier access to… the ‘facilities’.
The main area will remain grass with the paths moved to the diagonals.