0 Comment(s) 03/08/2007 +0100 GMT
by Pete Roythorne
Printable version
The Black Country is campaigning for a £50million of lottery funding injection into the area.
‘Black Country as an Urban Park’, is the region’s bid and one of only six visionary community projects short-listed nationally to go through to the second stage of the Big Lottery Fund’s Living Landmarks: The People’s Millions programme, run in-conjunction with ITV.
L to R: Mike Glasson, Walsall Leather Museum, Adrian Pearson,
Copthorne Hotel, Merry Hill and Cllr Bob Badham MBE from
Sandwell join Wolfie to sign their 'Pledge of Support'
for the 'Black Country as an Urban Park'
The campaign has seen industry personnel from across the region’s hotels and visitor attractions, sign a pledge of support for the bid which will be the catalyst for the region’s renaissance.
As part of the 30-year vision for the Black Country’s future, the project focuses on sweeping environmental transformation of the region into an urban park which will rejuvenate the area and enrich people’s lives.
“We urge everyone to pledge their support,” said Pauline Jones, head of the region’s tourism unit, “it is vitally important for us to communicate our plans to everyone in the visitor economy sector so they will be completely involved and can demonstrate their support for this once in a lifetime opportunity. We envisage that if our bid is successful the area will benefit from over £120 million of investment which will have a huge impact on the economy, the community and people’s lives.”
Following submission, BIG will decide which of the six competing national projects go forward to a televised public vote in the autumn.
