£50 million of lottery funding is to be awarded to one of four UK community projects, and voting is now open for the public to decide which project gets the £50m.
£50 million was declared up for grabs in June 2005, when the Big Lottery Fund (BIG) and ITV announced that they would hold a competition to find the most worthy recipient. Thirty-three projects entered the competition, and BIG whittled this down to four in October.
Shortlisted projects will feature in information films shown at 11.05pm on ITV all this week.
Projects and their supporters:
Black Country Urban Park, supported by Toyah Willcox
Connect2, supported by Lorraine Kelly
The Edge, supported by Ray Mears
Sherwood: the Living Legend, supported by Brian Blessed
BLACK COUNTRY URBAN PARK
One million people will be affected by the Urban Park project, which will be implemented over the next 30 years. It will involve radical environmental change, in particular, opening up and improving the canals and underground limestone caverns.
CONNECT2
UK-wide project Connect2 aims to improve travel in 79 communities, by creating new walking and cycling routes, and building bridges over busy roads, rivers and railway lines. Six million people will live within one mile of a Connect2 project.
EDEN PROJECT: THE EDGE
Cornwall?s Eden Project will receive a new building as a result of The Edge project. It will feature exhibitions that show how people coped with change in the past. The Edge will also host festivals and talks by artists, writers and musicians.
SHERWOOD: THE LIVING LEGEND
Sherwood?s ancient oak forest will be doubled in size, with 300 hectares of new forest being planted. Visitor centres will be created, along with a 250km network of walking, cycling and horse riding ? one of the biggest in Europe.
HOW TO VOTE
Online voting is open now. Visit the BIG website and vote.
Telephone voting opens at 9am on Friday, and the telephone numbers will be announced then.
Voting closes at noon on Monday, 10 December.
£50 million of lottery funding will be awarded to one of four shortlisted UK community projects after voting has closed on Monday.
To comment on this article, use the comment box below, or email us at clonews@ipcmedia.com. Read more about the countryside.
