Bishop backs plans for Black Country Urban Park

The Bishop of Wolverhampton has today urged people to support the Black Country bid to win £50 million lottery cash for the area.

The Rt Rev Clive Gregory is backing ambitious plans to create a Black Country Urban Park which will include opening up a historic network of caverns and canals and creating major new attractions.

He urged people across the Diocese of Lichfield to get behind the bid and vote for the project when it hits TV screens in December.

Bishop Gregory said: "Black Country people are rightly proud of their industrious past and the role this region has played in building the 20th century. The Black Country Urban Park will transform the remnants of that great industrial age into a great green area which will secure the future of this region into the 21st century and beyond.

"I'm very enthusiastic about this project and I urge people from across the West Midlands, of all faiths and none, to share my enthusiasm and support this bid. It's very easy to vote and a successful bid will help put the Black Country on the map."

The Black Country Urban Park is one of four projects across the country taking part in a national television and website vote called the Big Lottery Fund's: The People's £50 million Contest.

If successful in the December ITV bid, the money will be used to create a 12-mile green bridge linking Walsall and West Bromwich town centres, the widespread regeneration of Wolverhampton's canal network and improved access to green places.

In addition, the project will help reopen the vast caverns and underground canals in Dudley to create one of Europe's largest underground attractions, all to be achieved with community involvement.

"The Black Country Urban Park will tell the nation that the Black Country isn't a grey place - it's a colourful place and a great place," said Bishop Gregory. "We know it's true, and now - thanks to the hard work of our local authorities and others - the rest of the country will now find out too."

Voting online starts on November 26 through a dedicated website www.thepeoples50million.org.uk, where further details of the project can also be found.

If successful in the vote, a £50 million grant from the Big Lottery Fund will support the first five to ten years of up to 30 years of Urban Park activity.

Plans include the involvement of 300,000 children and 3,000 local groups in transforming their environment, provide 60,000 volunteer opportunities, deliver 500 local projects and open up 3,700 acres of green space - and will also save, the limestone caverns at Wren's Nest.