Families hoping to use Royston Splash Park at the weekend were left bewildered when problems with water pressure caused it to cut out, and the toilets to close during one of the hottest weekends of the year.

North Herts District Council confirmed problems at the site were caused by low water pressure, but announced the main contractor has now gone into administration – meaning it could take longer to find a long-term solution.

As a temporary measure, some of the toilets will remain closed, leaving one unisex toilet, one disabled toilet and a urinal open for park users.

Councillor Jane Gray, responsible for leisure at NHDC, said: “Today, the council has received notification of the financial administration of Royston’s Splash Park main contractor.

“As it was a contractual responsibility to provide an adequate water supply to operate the splash park, we are now in the legal process of appointing a sub-contractor to work on the operational issues we are currently experiencing.

“We remain committed to keeping the splash park open during the summer months and we are working hard to rectify the issues with the water pressure so that we can continue to provide a fully functional splash park as soon as possible.”

Becky Littlechild, who went down with her three children aged five, three and one on Sunday, was left disappointed when they found it was switched off.

She said: “We went down for the first time on Sunday, as we’ve been away for the last couple of weekends.

“The children were literally running round in a puddle. We went over to the park instead. It’s a shame – we weren’t expecting anything amazing, but some water would have been good, or a notice saying that there were problems.

“Everyone’s been waiting for it. Hopefully they’ll put a notice up, or put updates on a website – you don’t want to go all the way up there and find it’s not working.”