A visitor attraction near Ashby is in need of hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of repairs.

Moira Furnace, located in open parkland on the banks of the Ashby Canal, dates back to 1806.

It is believed to be one of the most well-preserved blast furnaces in the country, and was once used to make iron.

But now, parts of the attraction are being damaged by water ingress from a leaking roof and walls.

The water risk dates back to at least 2018, with one room now unusable and the ongoing use of the main museum area becoming "unsustainable" as a result, documents published by North West Leicestershire District Council reveal ahead of next Tuesday's Cabinet meeting in Coalville.

The land and buildings are owned by the local authority.

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

However, the council said this has been an "extremely difficult and lengthy process" which, coupled with the pandemic itself, created a delay.

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All consents are "now in place", the council said.

However, the slow progress in obtaining this coincided with a period of cost inflation in the construction industry. The price of repairing the building, then, is set to be more than originally anticipated.

Moira Furnace. Photo: Instantstreetview.com

The tendering of the project revealed an almost £490,000 price tag for the scheme – £225,000 over the budget previously set aside.

Next week's agenda says: "If the project is to proceed, the Council's capital investment will need to be increased by up to £160,000. It is recommended that the additional funding is found from the Business Rates Reserve."

A sum of £65,000 is also being put in through a UK Shared Prosperity Fund contribution.

The works would be done in two phases. The first will see repairs to the roof, and parapets, and the replacement of gutters and downpipes.

Then internal repairs will take place to correct the damage done by the leaks. No timeframe has been given publicly for the work.

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