Bellamy hits out over voting

A row today broke out over voting in the battle for £50 million Lottery cash after it emerged campaigners had been urged to vote several times for their own bid.

The cycling charity Sustrans was accused of manipulating the rules to beat the Black Country's bid for the cash.

It led to demands from MPs today for a re-think of the way that huge amounts of lottery money are distributed.

The Black Country's bid for the money was runner-up in the competition run jointly by ITV and the Big Lottery Fund.

An email sent out by a Sustrans manager encouraged cyclists to use multiple votes by using as many different email addresses and telephone numbers as possible.

The botanist David Bellamy, who supported the Black Country bid, said: "I cannot believe that England has sunk so low as this. It is just awful to hear that this kind of manipulation is going on in the name of charity."

Black Country MP John Spellar said he would be tabling Commons questions to Culture Secretary James Purnell about the way lottery money was distributed.

"Is this the best way of making these decisions, particularly when they are open to over-enthusiastic voting?" asked the Warley MP. "I have a lot of respect for Sustrans, having dealt with them as transport minister, but the people who support the charity will be just the sort of articulate, well-organised individuals who have access to lots of email addresses and telephone numbers."

West Bromwich West MP Adrian Bailey said: "If there has been abuse, the whole thing has to be looked at to make it more transparent and robust in future," said the Labour MP.

Councillor David Caunt, leader of Dudley Council and chairman of the Black Country Consortium, said: "We were beaten by an organisation based on creating campaigns."