Joe
Birmingham Council has never had a good record when it comes to fountains, look at the one that was installed in the old market hall in the Bull Ring. When it first opened in 1851 there was a fantastic fountain inside the market (see attached drawing) that was removed in 1880 and transferred to Highgate Park (see attached photo).
it lasted there until 1923 when it was removed and scrapped, thus it had a life of 72 years, there are other fountains around England that are hundreds of years old, I can't think of any in Birmingham that has any age with the exception of the Chamberlain Memorial but that is only about a third of it's former size.