Foxton Locks in Leicestershire drained for canal work

Half-a-million gallons of water have been drained from a historic canal lock to allow essential maintenance work to go ahead.

Work on the 200-year-old Foxton Locks near Market Harborough started on Wednesday.

The complex of 10 locks will be closed to boaters until December 18.

The section of the Leicester Line of the Grand Union Canal, is one of Leicestershire's top tourist attractions.

The maintenance programme follows a near £3m upgrade of the complex.

The other facilities at the site will remain open during the work which will also see the draining of the side pools that feed the locks.

Regional waterway manager Jeff Whyatt said: "It's not every day we drain such a large lock flight."

He said it took around three hours for the entire flight to be emptied – removing the equivalent of about 30,000 bathtubs of water.

He said: "We want everyone to be able to enjoy this national heritage site and by carrying out these repairs during the winter period we ensure that we affect as few boaters and visitors as possible."

He said the £33,000 maintenance programme included work to repair damaged lock gates to prevent water being lost through leakages, and repairs to the brickwork of the lock chamber walls.

Once the locks are empty, maintenance teams will climb down into the locks – some of which are more than 8ft deep – to assess if further work is needed. The side ponds will also be drained and a specialist fish rescue team will be on site to help relocate any fish to parts of the canal which are still open.

John Ellis, British Waterways' fisheries manager, said: "It is important we transfer the fish to a safe area of the canal while we carry out these repair works.

"Most of the fish will naturally follow the flow of the water when the locks are being drained. Once the locks are filled up with water the fish will normally find their way back to their old habitat."

The flight was drained by opening each of the locks and allowing water to flow to the canal at the base of the 75ft high lock flight.

When the repairs are completed the lock flight will be filled back up again with water from the summit of the canal.

British Waterways has also applied for planning permission to improve the car parking at the top of the locks to accommodate more visitors next year.

It hopes to boost visitor numbers to more than 400,000 a year.