POPULAR seafront fountains have been turned off in an attempt to dissuade visitors to control the spread of Covid-19.

Councillor Matt Dent, for Kursaal ward, looked into why the fountains were still on after receiving reports from members of the public.

He posted on Facebook: "I've had a few messages from residents to say that yesterday the water fountains at City Beach were still on, despite efforts to dissuade visitors to the seafront including (I thought) the fountains being turned off.

"With thanks to the sleuthing efforts of my colleague, Councillor Anne Jones, I am informed that there is an auto timer to run at minimal to prevent blockages, etc, which appears to kick in intermittently.

"Yesterday afternoon an engineer was called and the fountains were manually shut down.

"This will be monitored going forwards, and my thanks to those residents who took the time to alert me.