Port boat lift starts £50m revamp

The lift is the first element of the Nene Regeneration Project

A multi-million pound regeneration of a Cambridgeshire port has begun.

A boat lift, capable of lifting vessels up to 75 tonnes, has been installed at the Port of Wisbech, as part of the Nene Regeneration Scheme.

Fenland District Council described the lift as the "catalyst for the resurrection of traditional boat building and the boat repair industry".

The £50m revamp includes building 400 homes, as well as offices, restaurants and a sailing club.

Roman times

The new development has been planned on land that has lain redundant for over 20 years at the port.

Wisbech on the River Nene has been a port since Roman times and in the 19th Century was vital for the distribution of grain from Norfolk and the Fens around the country.

The new lift is to enable boats to be winched out of the port for cleaning and repair.

Gary Garford, of Fenland District Council, said: "There isn't one on the east coast for hundreds of miles so its going to attract other boat users and other local ports to use our facilities to lift their crafts out, rather than go right to the Humber to be lifted out."