‘It’s Horsham’s Marmite - you either love it or you hate it’, says Robert Nye, leader of Horsham District Council.
Actually, our own quick survey of 20 passers-by had either “come around to liking” or hated The Shelley Fountain.
Either way, it is one of Horsham's best known monuments and has become an integral part of the town.
It It was created to mark poet Percy Shelley’s Bicentenary back in 1992, to honour his contribution to art and culture in a permanent and tangible way.
But immediately the fountain - which is actually called ‘The Rising Universe’ - by sculptor Angela Connor was a source of much derision.
There was some anger at the cost of the structure, laughter at its sexual connotations, and regular abuse by youths who quickly discovered how much fun they could have with a bottle of bubble bath when the water came on.
But now the Shelley Fountain is under threat, due to the spiralling cost of repair work.
Councillor Nye admitted there was a “very real possibility” that the monument could be removed.
It is estimated that £21,000 of maintenance works needs to be carried out, on top of the £24,000 spent on recent repair work.
In January, the council started work to determine and rectify problems first encountered in late spring 2008.
Following the erection of protective fencing around the fountain, a steel lifting beam was delivered to the site.
This structure enables the main body of the fountain to be lifted and major electrical and hydraulic parts of the fountain to be removed for inspection and testing.
But costs spiralled, and now the council must decide the future of the Rising Universe.
There were three options presented to the council. One was to go along with the recommendation of the council’s officers and repair it. The second was to fix the position of the globe and the third remove it completely.
Following a varied response by readers of the West Sussex County Times councillors added a fourth option - to wait on the result of a poll carried in the paper and carry out its own extensive consultation with th epublic before making a decision.
They went for the fourth option and now it is crunch time for the fountain.
Cllr Nye, pictured left, admits there is a wide-ranging mix of views amongst his colleagues on the council. He said: “I think we need to see what people feel. It obviously has cost implications and is costing money at a time when the council is having to find ways to significantly reduce its budget.
“No firm decision will be made until we know the results of the consultation. There’s the County Times poll but that won’t be enough - we’ll have to do our own extensive consultation too.
Asked what his own views were on the matter disregarding all financial implications, Cllr Nye said: “I would like to see it removed and replaced with something that is stable and more in keeping with the area.
“The traders say that it doesn’t bring benefit to them and people say ‘get rid of it - it’s an eyesore’. But you also have people saying it’s a talking point.
“I think there is a very real possibility it will be removed.
“It’s not a done deal but we’re looking at a £45,000 repair bill and that’s not the ned of it - it will require further maintenance every few years.”
This isn’t the first time the fountain has hit the headlines. It was switched off in the spring of 2006 to conserve water due to water shortages in the south of England. Although the water is recycled, it loses 180 gallons of water a day to filtration and evaporation.
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