New heritage partnership agreement for Foxton Locks

BW is the custodian and owner of Foxton Locks, which attracts over 300,000 visitors a year. The site is classed as a designated conservation area containing a scheduled ancient monument with a number of grade II and grade II* listed buildings all of which require constant maintenance to keep them in working order.

Located on the Leicester Arm of the Grand Union Canal, Foxton Locks consists of 10 locks - two staircases of five locks, and the famous inclined plane boat lift. The flight of locks at Foxton was built in the early 1800’s by canal engineer Benjamin Bevan to overcome a climb of 75 ft (approx 23 metres) and remains largely unaltered. The former inclined plane, now a Scheduled Ancient Monument, was opened in 1900 to speed up canal traffic and to save water. Designed by the Grand Junction Canal Company’s engineer, Gordon Cale Thomas, and built by WH Gwyne of Hammersmith, London, the inclined plane was finally dismantled in 1926.

The introduction of HPAs as a new way of managing the nation’s historic assets came about after the Government’s publication of the 2007 white paper ‘Heritage Protection for the 21st Century’. This set out a new, simple way of unifying the current regime whilst ensuring the historic environment is protected and effectively managed.

The Foxton Locks HPA is a pilot project that is intended to become a template for British Waterways. Foxton Locks was selected as it is a compact, multi-designated historic environment that contains high value heritage assets. A top priority for BW is to continue working with English Heritage, Harborough District Council and Leicestershire County Council so that together they can preserve and maintain this historic site.

The agreement is a positive step, allowing BW to engage more actively with the day to day management and development of the site, and specifically identified works to be carried out at the site without the need for lengthy consultations and approvals.

Dennis Maney, British Waterways’ heritage adviser, said: “As the third largest owner of listed buildings in the UK, this new partnership agreement is a real positive step forward for BW. We have worked extremely hard over the last few years improving the Foxton site for visitors, whilst still respecting and protecting the historical importance of the site.

“We are really very proud at what we have achieved. This agreement proves we have the right skills and people to manage this unique historic site, and avoids the need for repeated and time consuming consent applications when we want to carry out general maintenance works.”

In 2009 BW’s care and maintenance spend at the site amounted to £160,000 with works including the draining of the entire lock flight to carry out repairs to the lock gates, and rebuilding of some of the lock walls.

The agreement will work on the principle of a traffic light system. Each partner has agreed which works will require planning consent (i.e. large re-developments) and which permitted works fall under the terms on the agreement (i.e. replacing lock gates).

The performance of the HPA for Foxton Locks will be actively monitored by all partners and will run initially for a five year period.