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From The Times
November 3, 2005

Diana fountain 'a drain on Royal Parks budget'

By Sam Coates

THE Princess Diana memorial fountain resembles an open drain in the middle of a bog, the head of a powerful Commons watchdog said yesterday.

Members of the Public Accounts Committee expressed incredulity that this “small and simple” project in Hyde Park, which was more than £2 million over budget and has had to be closed three times since it was opened by the Queen in July last year, could have gone so expensively wrong.

There were more than 900 “incidents” in its first two weeks, mostly visitors who slipped on the granite. At least three people were taken to hospital.

Edward Leigh, the Conservative committee chairman, asked whether the problems were evidence of a wider decay in the eight Royal Parks. Mark Camley, the chief executive of the Parks, said the body needed £65 million for repairs but the budget was being eroded by the Diana memorial, which costs £250,000 a year to maintain.

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