The Johnson Drinking Fountain can be re-erected in Ayscoughfee gardens, councillors have ruled, but they also criticised the council for its lack of planning and consultation over its siting.
South Holland District Council’s Planning Committee last night granted permission to return it to the hall where it sat from 1956 to 2018.
It follows opposition led by the Spalding and District Civic Society which has argued it should be put back into working use in the town centre having been erected initially in Hall Place in 1874.
After submitting what was described in the meeting as two ‘substantial’ documents objecting to the proposal, the society’s chair John Bland asked the committee to refuse so the authority would look at alternate locations and funding:
“The fountain is a significant asset in the history of this town,” he said. “There’s been no options to discuss alternative sites of the fountain.
“The public are very concerned and have expressed a lot of support for the town centre.
“Planning policy states we need to put our assets to viable use. This application does not do that.
“It’s a drinking fountain. It’s not an expensive garden ornament.
“There’s been no engagement with the steering group to discuss other options or funding opportunities.
“As I understand it the council will fund it. Should additional funding be sought?”
In response committee chair James Avery told councillors the application was not about other possible locations and only about whether it could be returned to the grade one listed Ayscoughfee if the council wished to do so.
While voting it through, several councillors called for greater consultation while some questioned why there was such a rush?
“I think it’s an example of how not to ingratiate yourself with the public,” Coun Jim Astill said. “The damn thing probably should have stayed in its original location and we wouldn’t have had half the grief that we’ve had publicly over it.”
“The council should have engaged with the public a lot more and seen where the preference would have been, but we didn’t do that.” Coun Andrew Woolf added. “It’s nothing to do with the application but it’s the lesson that we should be learning.”
Others backed Ayscoughfee as a location with Coun Jack Tyrrell calling it the “perfect place” for the fountain.
“I took this down originally and I did say at the time it should stay at Ayscoughfee where the family lived at one point,” he said,
“I t had been there 60-years and I see this as it coming home.”
Coun Christine Lawton criticised “some of the hyperbole from civic society” and accused it of being “very dismissive of a wonderful building and gardens” in Ayscoughfee.
Two proposals were before the committee, one for the actual re-erection of the fountain and one for the change to the listed building.
Coun Chris Brewis though voted against both arguing: “It should be a drinking fountain.”
Coun Rob Gibson voted against the re-erection stating: “I’m here because the public put me here and I want to be a voice for them. The voices I’ve heard say they do not want it here.
“It feels like, for one or two councillors, this is their brainchild and it’s going to go where they want it to go.
“I don’t think there will be more conversation on this as there’s been no conversation so far.
“There should have been a public consultation.”
“I’m not going to say I know where it is, but it would nice to hear an opinion on where our residents want it.”
There were 10 votes in favour of the re-erection of the fountain at Ayscoughfee, two against with one abstention.
South Holland District Council has allocated £24,000 for the job of re-siting the fountain, which is not working.
It was initially installed in the town centre in 1874 by the Spalding Water Company as a thank you to benefactor Mary Ann Johnson which helped improve water cleanliness in the town.
