A fountain that cost thousands of pounds to restore has never been turned on, even though repair work finished three years ago.

The Mazda fountain, a popular landmark in Valley Gardens, Brighton, had a £40,000 makeover in 2000 but not a drop of water has flowed since.

This infuriated nearby residents and even the maintenance firm paid to do the work.

Doug Snoswell, who used to live nearby in Elm Grove but recently moved to London, contacted Brighton and Hove City Council many times during the last few years demanding to know why the fountain had never been switched back on.

He said: "Public money has been used to restore this and the public should know what is going on.

"The fountain gave a lot of people a lot of pleasure. People used to sit on benches beside the fountain and watch the water and lights change. It brought peace and calm to the area.

"It is part of Brighton's heritage which has been allowed to rot away."

The Mazda fountain was given to Brighton in 1930 by Thomson-Houston Ltd following an exhibition. It used to delight passers-by with 35ft-high jets of water, brightly illuminated by multi-coloured lights.

It was switched on after several years of disuse on October 1987 but ran dry again several years later.

Mr Snoswell is also disappointed because, even if the fountain is switched on, it will not be the same as it once was.

He said: "The original fountain used to play music and lights would switch on and off in time.

"But the council told me the lighting will not be working because it did not allow any money to pay for the electronics."

Mr Snoswell's anger was matched by Cynthia Bedford, who runs the Brighton-based building and maintenance company Bedford Brothers with her husband Colin.

They spent almost a year restoring the fountain to its former glory and thought they had been successful.

Mrs Bedford said: "I think it is disgusting because of all the taxpayers' money being spent. I phoned the council about six months after we finished the work and the excuse I was given was that leaves were clogging up the pump.

"As far as we are concerned it should be running properly and I don't know why it isn't."

The couple enjoyed the intensive work restoring the fountain because they felt they were giving something back to the place they were brought up in.

Mrs Bedford said: "It was nice. Being born and bred in Brighton I love the place and it was great we were restoring a piece of its history. But now every time I go past the fountain it needles me."

A spokeswoman for Brighton and Hove City Council said she was hopeful the water would flow again within weeks, after a bit more money was spent.

She said: "The council is undertaking pre-seasonal work to clean, repair and replace parts on the fountain and we hope to have it running after Easter.

"We are also investigating fibre-optic lighting for the fountain and some wind monitoring control to reduce the spray effect.

"The council has yet to identify funds for these measures and would be pleased to hear from any potential sponsors who could help."