Vote to win lotto £50m

The countdown has started as the Black Country prepares to battle three rivals in a television vote for £50m of National Lottery cash.

A Million People: Black Country as an Urban Park, has been shortlisted for the vote along with The Eden Project, a national bike route proposed by Sustran's and protecting the ecology of Nottingham's Sherwood Forest.

If the Black Country wins the cash it will be match funded by Advantage West Midlands, the Heritage Lottery Fund and local authorities, and the £100 million will be used in three ways.

Firstly Dudley's Seven Sister's mines and caverns will be opened up as an exciting underground tourist attraction.

Secondly a 12-mile "green bridge" will be built linking Walsall and West Bromwich town centres.

Thirdly, Wolverhampton's canal network will be given a new lease of life. The whole scheme will not only boost tourism but will improve the lives of more than 800,000 people in the Black Country.

Roger Lawrence, chairman of the Urban Park steering group, says the scheme will bring jobs to the region.

"The one thing that will make people both notice the Black Country and feel confident to invest here is an environmental transformation," he says.

"In the 30 years I have lived here the environment has improved markedly but we need to do much more. At present people see the derelict former industrial land, the uncared for orphan open space and the narrow streets bordered by tired buildings, rather than the exciting new developments. We have to change these perceptions."

As well as bringing hundreds of jobs to the region, the scheme will involve 300,000 children and 3,000 groups in transforming their environment. Around 60,000 volunteer opportunities will be provided and it will open up 3,700 acres of green space – as well as save one of the world's most important geological features, the limestone caverns at Wren's Nest.

"In Dudley we have sites of international importance for geology and industrial history," says Mr Lawrence. "We can create a centre for visitors from all over the world to wonder at 300 million years of geology and 300 years of industrial heritage.

"We have, throughout the Black Country, canals which made our region the industrial heartland and which we thanked by turning our backs on them. We need to make the most of our assets by linking up and improving the green lungs between communities such as West Bromwich and Walsall a green space three times the size of Sutton Park."

Angie Took, communications director at the Black Country Consortium, says the Urban Park scheme is all about local people.

"More than 800,000 people live with 15 minutes of where the money will be invested so this is not just about creating visitor attractions. This is a chance to change people's lives," she says.

"Too often people complain that lottery money doesn't go where they would like it to. At last there is an opportunity to make your vote count and bring investment and new opportunities to the Black Country."

Celebrities have been nominated to back each project in the lead-up to the vote.

GMTV presenter Lorraine Kelly is taking a stand for Sustran's while survival expert Ray Mears is backing the Eden Project and actor Brian Blessed is the face for Sherwood Forest. Singer and actress Toyah Willcox is backing the Black Country project.

She says: "I'm a Black Country girl born and bred so the Urban Park project means a great deal to me. This grant would transform a huge area and give today's Black Country population, and the rest of the UK, the opportunity to appreciate the region's rich heritage for years to come."

Graham Worton, head of geology at Dudley Council, says he believes opening up the limestone mines is the project that will really capture the nation's imagination. "I feel privileged to be one of the few people to have seen the huge Step Shaft mine which is closed off to the public," he says.

"It is something that everyone should be given a chance to see." In Wolverhampton narrowboat enthusiasts have thrown their weight behind the Black Country Urban Park bid.

Lord Dennis Turner, whose grandfather worked on the canals for 50 years, said: "The canals around the Black Country helped create the Britain we have got today. During the industrial revolution the canal network was vital in transporting steel and iron. They were invaluable back then and it is absolutely essential that they are maintained."

Councillors and MPs in Walsall and West Bromwich have joined forces to back the bid to create a "green corridor" between their towns.

West Bromwich East MP Tom Watson said: "It's a great opportunity for us to put a bit of pride back into our region and we should all get behind the bid."