Toilet claim over design

Rugeley town centre would have a centrepiece water feature that resembles an "underground toilet" unless extra cash is ploughed into the scheme, a senior councillor has claimed.

The idea to spruce up Brook Square with an attractive water feature came after a 200-year-old underground culvert collapsed in March threatening the cenotaph.

Engineers started work strengthening ground around the culvert as district council bosses decide on whether to fund a new focal point for the square.

At a cabinet meeting members poured scorn on a Staffordshire County Council design – to be paid for with £150,000 insurance money from the collapse.

The county says it will repair the culvert and fence it off but the district council must pay for landscaping or an elaborate water feature.

Cannock Chase Council cabinet member Councillor Mick Grocott, who represents Western Springs ward, said: "It looks like the entrance to an underground toilet or an air raid bunker.

"It would give Rugeley town centre a worse look than it has already got at the moment, which looks like a building site."

Councillor Phil Freeman said: "If this goes to planning control, it will be thrown out straight away. It is totally out of character in a conservation area."

And Councillor Danny Davies said: "It looks like a giant flower bed without the flowers. It is horrible."

Council leader Councillor Neil Stanley said: "We want something to enhance the town, not something that looks like the entrance to a public toilet. This design would degrade Rugeley town centre . We will look at the possibility of using section 106 funding from developers to see if we can come up with something infinitely better than this."

The councils will talk about how much is needed for an acceptable design.