CITY councillors are being asked to decide on a £366,000 plan to fix a popular but unreliable splashpad.

The water play area in Gheluvelt Park was out of action for more than two weeks this year and a survey has found the water filtration system has reached the end of its life.

Council officers have come up with a plan to repair the splashpad in time for the 2025 operating season - but sign-off from councillors is required first.

Three different Worcester City Council committees, which all meet this month, will be involved in the approval process.

Place and economic committee meets tonight (Monday, November 4) and is being asked to approve the release of £72,000 worth of developer contributions towards the scheme.

READ MORE: Gheluvelt Park splashpad closures 'embarrassing' for council

This will be added to £294,000 from the Community Infrastructure Levy, which needs to be ratified by the policy and resources committee later in November.

An update on the splashpad is being presented to the environment committee on Tuesday (November 5).

Back in July, managing director David Blake admitted it was “embarrassing” for the council that the splashpad had to be closed on some of the hottest days of the year.

Since then, a survey has found that parts of the splashpad such as the water treatment plant had reached the end of their practical life and should be replaced.

The council is planning to repair the current splashpad’s filtration system, which recirculates the water, as opposed to swapping it for one that uses mains water - it says these alternative designs use more water and aren’t as good for large splashpads like the one in Gheluvelt Park.

The report being put before councillors also shows that the splashpad was scheduled to operate for 593 hours in 2024 compared to 923 in 2023.

Maintenance problems meant it had to close for more than 14 days, meaning it actually opened for about 500 hours this year. The actual number of operating hours in 2023 was 888.