Not a paddling pool: the Diana memorial fountain. Photograph: Andrew Parsons/PA
Two years after it opened, the Princess of Wales memorial fountain is still draining resources, writes Tomi Ajayi.
The project has been surrounded by controversy ever since it opened, a year behind schedule. The day after it was opened, "unseasonable leaf fall" caused it to flood; a week later a blocked pump stopped the water flow. And this was just the beginning. But even these teething problems could not stop visitors from using the watercourse as a doggie bath, nappy bin and urinal.
Now MPs are criticising the Royal Parks Agency for poor management of the monument and blaming it for spiralling costs. Over £5m has been poured into the fountain so far, and the agency is now facing an annual £250,000 maintenance bill for the fountain. That's £2.5m in the next decade.
Designed by the US landscape artist Kathryn Gustafson, it was intended to be a contemplative feature, where people could run their hands lightly over the water and ponder the meaning of life. What Gustafson failed to anticipate, however, is that when we see a bit of shallow water, we Brits don't ponder: we paddle.
And so it was that two weeks after, three people slipped and hurt themselves. A month later, signs appeared asking people not to run or walk in the water.
Scandalised MPs described the fiasco as a "muddy bog" and "open drain" after hearing in November last year that the project was £2.2m over budget. Also that month, Mohamed Al Fayed, never to be outdone, unveiled his rival memorial in Harrods - a bronze statue of the Princess dancing with Dodi. He thought it a more "fitting tribute" than the "sewer" in Hyde Park.
Like the Millennium Dome and Millennium Bridge, which were both also beset by difficulties, the fountain's litany of problems has at least secured the memorial in the public mind as an alternative British icon. Wembley constructors, take note.
