£1.5m funding bid for Dudley's Castle Hill

Bosses are hoping to start work on the creation of a new schools reception, pedestrian route and entrance later this year.

A bid for £905,000 from the European Regional Development Fund has already been submitted for the project.

If approved, the rest of the cash will be made up by £200,000 from Dudley Zoo, £268,000 from the Black Country Living Museum and £150,000 from Dudley Council.

The developments will be in addition to multi-million pound works which are already taking place at the site.

As part of the project a new schools reception building will be created to serve the Black Country Living Museum.

A pedestrian route in front of the zoo's offices linking the developments to Castle Hill itself will also be introduced.

And an entrance to the zoo from the car parks will be properly paved and enhanced.

New signs, seats and message boards will be placed on roads around Castle Hill as part of the scheme.

Part of the cash would also be used for the Black Country Steam Project at the museum - although this scheme is still in its early stages.

This would bring back items of industrial machinery into working use.

There would also be improvements to the Racecourse Colliery, steam hammer at the Anchor Forge and purchase of a steam tractor.

Bosses said the total costs of the work was estimated to be £1.5 million.

The funding bid will be discussed at a meeting of Dudley Council's cabinet on Thursday (3).

It is proposed subject to the grant application being successful the project be approved and included in the authority's capital programme.

Dudley Zoo chief executive Peter Suddock said: "These works will be an important part of the redevelopment of Castle Hill.

"At the moment we are hoping these works will begin towards the end of the year possibly going into the start of 2015.

"There are still some other works which need to be concluded before we can start on these schemes."

Director and chief executive of the Black Country Living Museum, Andrew Lovett, said: "There are on-going and early discussions between the museum and the regional office of the Department for Communities Local Government about possible projects.,

"This includes a potential scheme to enhance the industrial parts of our open-air site.

"No funding decisions have been made yet, and it is still too early to say whether this particular project will go ahead, or the extent of any European funding."

Redevelopment work is already taking place on land between the zoo, museum and Dudley Canal Trust as part of the overall scheme to boost trade and tourism.

Improvements have also taken place at the zoo including restoration of the iconic 'wave' entrance and the Safari Shop, one of the attraction's historic Tecton structures.