£50m forest bid to face TV vote

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

A bid to win £50m of lottery funding to transform the heart of Sherwood Forest will face a televised public vote.

Nottinghamshire County Council's bid is one of four projects to be short listed to win the money from the Big Lottery's Living Landmark Award.

The winner will be decided in a vote shown on ITV in December.

Project leader Austin Brady said he was delighted that the plans, which include a state-of-the-art visitor centre, have made it through to the final stage.

'New trees'

He said: "That (£50m) will pay for a new visitor complex at the centre of Sherwood to take some of the visitor pressure off the ancient forest but also a new network of paths and cycle ways about 155 miles (250 km) right across the forest.

"Of course thousands of new trees would be planted to try and recreate bits of the forest that have disappeared."

The county council has 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.

Other plans for the attraction include raised tree-top walkways and a discovery centre.

The forest will compete against a bid to extend the national cycle network by charity Sustrans, the Eden Project in Cornwall and the Black Country Urban Park.