A fountain in Horsham built to commemorate the poet Percy Shelley is to be dismantled because it has cost more than £200,000 to maintain.

The Council voted overwhelmingly to remove the Rising Universe water feature, which has been in the town since 1996.

Featuring a large globe that fills with water as it rises and falls, it has not worked for some time.

It was created to commemorate the bicentenary of the birth of Shelley, who was born near Horsham in 1792.

Sculptor Angela Conner blamed the authority for not taking enough care and allowing it to “disintegrate”.

Councillors said it had reached the end of its “serviceable life” and added that to leave the globe standing there was unfair to the art it was.

Its replacement will be subject to a public consultation.