The Leas Lift has been reprieved - for now.

The Folkestone water balance lift was threatened with immediate closure after Shepway District Council terminated its lease, but last night (Wednesday) it revealed that it would continue to operatre the attraction until the very end of its lease on June 30.

Negotiations are ongoing between Shepway Council and the lift’s owners, The Radnor Estate, to find a way to continuing the lift’s operation after that, and cash has been set aside in this year’s council budget to operate the lift in case a solution is found.

Cabinet had been asked by the Corporate Scrutiny to look again at its earlier decision to stop operating the lift immediately and to find a way of keeping it running for this year and beyond.

"What most people don’t realise is that the council does not want to see the lift close," said council leader Cllr Robert Bliss. "It wasn’t just operating and maintenance costs that influenced our original decision. We had to look at a range of issues that were, and remain, commercially confidential and therefore were not able to be shared with the public.

"This includes lease arrangements that, had decision to end the lease not been taken, would have placed onerous and significant financial obligations on the council."

Cllr Bliss added that if the Radnor Estate was prepared to offer the operation of the lift under licence without the obligations of the lease, he was sure the council could work with a community group to ensure the lift kept running.