Questions raised over what will happen to Port Talbot water feature

Lewis Smith – Local democracy reporter

Neath Port Talbot Council has said options are being discussed for the future of a former water feature which was once filled with fairy liquid by local school children.

The plans for what have been described as a transformational project at Port Talbot’s Princess Royal Theatre and Civic Square were approved by the local authority at a planning meeting held in December, 2024.

It will see £15 million worth of work to update and regenerate an area at the heart of the town between the council’s civic offices and the Aberafan shopping centre, as well as well as a range of works including extensions and refurbishments at the 798-seat theatre.

Astrolabe

However, speaking at the meeting where plans were approved, councillor Dennis Keogh of Margam and Taibach asked what would become of the water feature and sculpture that is currently located at the front of the building both during and after the project is completed.

The striking silver sculpture was first unveiled by Princess Anne at the official opening of the Civic Centre in September, 1989, with a design based on an astrolabe, an ancient astronomical instrument that represents the world, along with a model ship which represents the town’s port activities.

It was manufactured and presented to the council by British Steel PLC with the piece made of Welsh steel and coal products which it said had “made the name of Port Talbot famous all over the world”.

Incident

Speaking at the meeting, Councillor Keogh asked what would happen to the piece moving forward, adding that while it was originally intended as a water feature in the 1980s, following an incident where children from a local school filled it full of fairy liquid, it hadn’t been used for that reason ever since.

Cllr Keogh said: “As a result we had more foam than we knew what to do with so it was never used again as a fountain, but still, it’s a sculpture. Are there any plans to refurbish that sculpture and move it to another location? Possibly Margam Park or Aberavon seafront.”

In response, officers said they would now pass the feedback along to the planning team adding that if it was of local interest and had been there for that length of time it would “seem logical” that they could re-site the sculpture somewhere else or even re-site it within the latest scheme that was being proposed.”