A NEW splash pad at Cwmbran Boating Lake could cost hundreds of thousands of pounds to install and maintain, community councillors were told this week.

Last week the Argus reported Cwmbran Community Council was looking at the idea of creating a splash pad, which would feature a non-slip surface, and water features such as showers, nozzles and sprays to allow children to safely play with almost no water depth.

Councillors on the regeneration and major grants committee met to start to look at an initial idea about paying for a children's fun water feature in the town.

Gareth Davies, the council's clerk said since the idea was raised he had "started making investigations" into costs.

He told councillors it could be around £480,000 for a splash pad with a water circulation system.

And on top of this, it could mean a budget of £10,000 for ongoing refurbishments and improvements.

One system would need "someone on site to check the water is being treated correctly".

"Mr Davies said: "We need to do further investigations."

He said the potential costs of this "significant project" may mean they would have to look for "external funding" but made clear this was the first discussion at the community council and that was a lot of work to be done.

Cllr Anthony Bird, Northville ward, said they could consider partnering with Croesyceiliog and Llanyrafon Community Council, as there used to be a water feature in the play area at Woodland Road.

Cllr Bird added that the now-closed water feature in Tredegar Park in Newport cost £500,000 when it was installed in 1994.

Cllr Dave Thomas, Two Locks Ward, asked if an adventure playground would be "better and cheaper to run".

Cllr Chris Morgan, Lowlands & Avondale ward and committee chairman, said: “We could definitely look at that."

Cllr Thomas then signed a conflict of interest form as the boating lake is in his ward of Llantarnam, which he represents as a county councillor.

He said the boating is "already popular" so "why not make it more of an attraction?"

Cllr Bird said the project would only be "feasible" if they got "funding".

Cllr Morgan said it was an idea "that has been proposed" so once the feasibility was looked into they would make a decision.

He added that he had "doubts" if the community council could "afford to maintain it" as "it would eat into our budgets enormously".

Cllr Michele Day, Ty Canol ward, compared it to "having bins" as they were easy to install but the expense came from getting them emptied.

Cllr Morgan said the boating lake had recently had a "lot of new equipment, so I think may be worth doing in another park."

Cllr Morgan said they wanted to gather "proposals from different areas, to start using the money that we put aside for this."

Cllr Thomas agreed to bring back more information about an "adventure park".

Mr Davies said he would carry on with some work on the "numbers" and bring the information back to the committee.