COUNCILLORS today called on the public to flood them with ideas on how to replace a dried-up fountain which has been branded an eyesore.

The fountain, situated outside Scaitliffe House, Accrington, cost £150,000 when it was built in 1999, but is only believed to have worked twice, briefly.

The 25 metre by three metre structure, built using European Regional Development Fund money, now contains stagnant water and its blue walls are stained green.

In June this year the chairman of Accrington Civic Trust Alan Benson urged Hyndburn Council to seek compensation from the company which erected the structure outside the authority's Scaitcliffe House HQ.

And Hyndburn MP Greg Pope labelled it a "joke". But at a cabinet meeting council leader Coun Peter Britcliffe unveiled his hopes to turn the fountain into something which Accrington could be proud of.

The ideas of what should replace the eyesore are to be provided by the public and community organisations as part of a consultation exercise, he said.

Coun Britcliffe said: "We are all aware of the concern expressed by councillors and the public for quite a number of years. "When it was built I can remember thinking the colour was a toilet blue, it ended up looking like some sort of public convenience that they had forgotten to put the rest of the walls and roof on.

"Now we want to make the area outside our council offices a better place and it's important that we take all the public with us on this."

Coun Britcliffe said the consultation exercise would involve talking to the Accrington Civic Trust, the Accrington Area Council, local schools, the local press and local residents' groups.

Ideas suggested at the meeting include a new fountain or no fountain with a seated area and grass and trees instead.

The cabinet backed Coun Britcliffe's plan for a consultation.

He added: "It has been eyesore for far too long. Let's get loads of ideas in."

It is planned that a temporary measure to improve the general appearance of the fountain will be made in the Spring with a permanent solution coming after that.