Petition over £50m forest revamp

The centre is part of the council's £50m lottery bid

People living in one Nottinghamshire village are objecting to plans for a £50m revamp of Sherwood Forest.

About 1,200 villagers have signed a petition against the plan, which they say will spoil the forest.

The county council is bidding for lottery funding to build a new visitor centre and tree top walkways.

Project manager for the visitor centre Faye Booker said the metal structure would be clad with oak to look like a tree and blend with the forest.

'Iconic structure'

She said: "We're trying to celebrate the fantastic views that you can get from that part of the county by building a viewing gallery that will be a 100ft up and give you an absolutely stunning view of the forest and the surrounding area that you wouldn't otherwise see.

"It is an iconic structure. We deliberately wanted to make it eye-catching but we also wanted it to be sympathetic to the story of Robin Hood."

Villagers are also objecting to the proposed closure of Swine Cote Road as part of the project.

Resident Barbara Starbrook, said: "It [the new centre] won't improve the forest and it won't help the village people either... we don't get visitors now from the other visitor centre.

"There's no money that comes into the village from tourism - only higher rates."

The attraction is one of six to be short-listed by the Big Lottery Fund for its Living Landmark Award.

Ms Booker said that, regardless of the outcome of the lottery bid, the current visitor centre, which opened in 1976, will have to close by 2010 to protect the surrounding habitat.