Splash pad is non-starter for Chatteris thanks to enormous costs

Hopes of a splash pad for a town park have been dashed thanks to the high cost of building and running it.

Chatteris Town Council had hoped it could provide the facility in Wenny Rec – similar to the one that is in Wisbech Town Park.

That one was mostly funded by Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority after a successful bid by Fenland District Council to the authority’s Market Towns programme.

However, town clerk Joanna Melton told Tuesday night’s council meeting that the cost of building it would be at least £175,000, and there would then be additional costs of fencing and utilities.

Mrs Melton then added that once built it would cost around £10,000 a year to run, which was just unfeasible.

As a result councillors reluctantly agreed it was a non-starter for the town.