Diana fountain 'will close for good'

An award-winning designer today predicted that the Diana Memorial Fountain would have to close permanently in six months.

Rory Coonan, former head of architecture at the Arts Council and designer of Birmingham's Victoria Square fountain, said new measures to improve the safety of the memorial in Hyde Park were "a sticking plaster on a poor design".

Mr Coonan's fountain was officiallyopened by Diana, Princess of Wales a decade ago.

Of the Diana memorial, he said: "This is one slippery fountain and I predict it will shut permanently in six months."

Mr Coonan, a senior assessor in Royal Institute of British Architects' competitions, also said the fountain was too large for parents to be able to monitor their children. He said that the Department of Culture, Media and Sport should admit it had made a "huge blunder" in choosing the design.

A department spokesman defended the fountain as "a quality example of landscape architecture".

Under the new measures, people will be able to paddle in the fountain but will be asked not to run or walk in the water.