A CENTREPIECE water feature will never be switched on after red-faced council bosses under-estimated the cost by £60,000.

Officials from Pendle Council originally thought the structure in Colne Precinct, consisting of large stone spheres, water jets and a contemporary colour-change LED lighting system, would cost somewhere in the region of £10,000.

But with work already underway on the structure, it has emerged that the total cost of installing a water filtration system to guaran-tee against contamination and water-born diseases was closer to £75,000.

Groundwork is already underway and the large stone spheres are scheduled to be installed next week.

But Colne councillors said they were ‘not willing’ to fund the extra amount, meaning the water feature will remain dry.

Borough councillors have critic-ised the local authority for ‘not thinking’ before they started work on the feature. If water is not properly purified there is a risk of it carrying the Legionella bacter-ium, which can cause the potent-ially fatal Legionnaires’ disease.

A report to Colne and District Committee, says the water feature would need to recycle water and that the filtration, pumping and water treatment equipment would all need to be ‘housed below ground level’ at an approximate cost of £75,000.

But as only £15,000 funding is in place, there is a shortfall of £60,000.

Coun Sharon Davies, chairman of Colne Committee, said: “I wouldn’t criticise the council officers for not knowing beforehand. If we were to do something similar again in the future we would know about the health and safety issues.”

However, Mohammed Iqbal, Labour leader for Pendle Council, said: “It doesn’t surprise me in the slightest. Clearly, it’s yet another example of Pendle Council and Colne councillors not really thinking before putting things in place. What’s the point in having a water feature without water? You can’t call it a water feature. It’s a water-less feature.”

Coun George Askew said: “I think the idea of a water feature was a complete waste of money in the first place and I don’t understand why anyone would think otherwise.”

Coun Smith Benson added: “I would have provided more parking instead, but at least we have stopped a further expenditure of £60,000.”