Tourist attraction needs £490k repairs - council

A tourist attraction in Leicestershire needs £490,000 worth of repairs after being damaged by water leaks, a council has said.

The Moira Furnace, in parkland next to the Ashby Canal in Moira, was once used to make iron and is now home to a museum.

Documents published by North West Leicestershire District Council, which owns the 1806-built property, said parts of it had been affected by "water ingress" from a leaking roof and walls.

The damage was making the continuing use of the main museum area "unsustainable", the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) said.

The council began the process of agreeing works on the attraction with Historic England, which has to sign off on any repairs, before Covid-19.

It said it had been an "extremely difficult and lengthy process" which, coupled with the pandemic, created a delay.

All consents are "now in place", the authority said, but inflation had pushed the original cost of repairs up from £225,000.

The difference is set to be funded from the council's business rates reserves, with £65,000 from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

The LDRS said no timeframe for the repair work had been made public.

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