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Foxton Inclined Plane Trust

Foxton Inclined Plane project moves on - working with Foxton Locks Partnership

The Foxton Inclined Plane Trust is very pleased with the news that we now have £2.8 million pounds to spend on the project. This is a very good start for our £9 million full restoration plan. The work has been split into sustainable sections and work starts in September when Waterways Restoration Group (WRG) forestry group and Trust volunteers will remove the final trees from the incline. The work will continue with:

• dredging,
• restoration of the top arm,
• restoring the stop lock,
• restoring the bottom basin walls,
• reproducing a swing bridge on the Harborough arm,
• interpretation works and making access improvements.

The aim of the Foxton Inclined Plane Trust is to restore the lift to full working order and to preserve its history in relationship to the local waterways. The Foxton Inclined Plane Trust now works with the Foxton Locks Partnership, which includes: British Waterways, The Waterways Trust, The Inland Waterways Association, Local Authorities, and The Old Union Canals Society.

The Foxton Inclined Plane Trust was formed in 1980 as the Foxton Inclined Plane Society (FIPS) but this was soon changed to Foxton Inclined Plane Trust as the society was reformed to become a charitable trust and a limited company. FIPS was founded after a meeting in Leicester called by the Council for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE). The CPRE had cleared the top third of one slope of the incline and had the site listed as an ancient monument. However, they were not constituted as a practical body and wanted to hand over the work to a specialist society, resulting in the formation of the Foxton Inclined Plane Trust .

It was an uphill struggle at first to convince anyone that The Trust could ever succeed. Having restored the lift’s boiler house set up a museum in the restored building and cleared the second slope down to the same level as the first, people started to take FIPT very seriously.

It took until 2000 to get to the stage when British waterways put us high on their agenda. Since then with many set backs and minor victories Foxton Inclined Plane Trust has become part of the Foxton Locks Partnership and the project is moving forward rapidly.

Recently the Foxton Inclined Plane Trust has been involved in a £2.2 million restoration scheme backed by the Heritage Lottery Fund. This is the first stage of a £9 million project to restore the lift to full working order.

You can help by joining the Foxton Inclined Plane Trust , supporting the restoration fund and by working as a volunteer; give us a call or look us up on the web site. Members get free entry to the museum, and a quarterly publication Plane Informer.

www.fipt.org.uk

info@fipt.org.uk

Tel: 0116 2792 657

Michael G Beech
Company Secretary & Museum Keeper
Foxton Inclined Plane Trust

Swan on nest

Bridge detail