ANOTHER week goes by — and another controversial Bolton Council scheme is on the agenda.

They're like buses. You wait ages for one — and then three come along at once. I'm talking here about the University of Bolton student accommodation plans, the Newport Street project, and finally the revamp of the town hall.

Buses, of course, used to run past the town hall, as you can see, in this glorious black and white picture.

My memory doesn't stretch quite that far back — but I do remember the old fountains outside WH Smith.

I mistakenly thought they must have been introduced when Victoria Square was pedestrianised back in 1971, but clearly, as this photograph from our archives shows, they were there roadside at least two years before then.

The fountains — like the elephants in Newport Street (whose days are surely numbered) and the now dearly departed charity canopy — feel like part of Bolton.

It caused a great deal of controversy when they were moved back in 1999 as part of a "sprucing up" of the square.

When the new fountains were ready (in their current position either side of the town hall steps) it apparently took weeks for them to be switched on.

I'm told, by one of the more senior members of our team, that back in 1999, one poor reporter was put on "fountain watch" and had to ring up the town hall every day to ask if the new fountains were working yet. I'm sure he was a popular chap with council chiefs.

The current scheme will see the fountains scrapped and replaced with "programmable interactive stream jets" — whatever they are.

These ground level jets — which hopefully won't just be shooting up poor unsuspecting shoppers' skirts as they walk across the square — are being introduced because a terrace is set to be built on one side of the steps for outside diners at a new restaurant, while a cafe will be introduced on the other side.

Apart from the fact that this will ruin the symmetry of our glorious town hall, the plans also require builders to cut into the current stonework to complete the council's vision.

I'm not against a bit of commercialisation of the building — make it pay its way in these austere times — but do we really need to take a hammer and chisel to the brickwork.

I love al fresco dining as much as the next man — but the only people who sit outside for a coffee and a bite to eat in Bolton are smokers. Because for 11 months of the year, it's cold and rainy.

So I'm all for a cafe and a restaurant — but keep them indoors — and leave the front of our beautiful town hall alone.