Scheme is banking on £15m jackpot (From Swindon Advertiser)

Scheme is banking on £15m jackpot

3:05pm Thursday 26th October 2006 in

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WORK is under way on the plans to link Swindon and Cricklade in the greenest way possible.

The mainstays behind the Cricklade Country Way project hope that with the help of a multi-million pound lottery grant they will be able to transform a swathe of land between North Swindon, Cricklade and the Cotswold Water Park into a new green recreation area.

If the £15m bid is successful, visitors will have a choice how to travel between the three places because five miles of canal will be restored, five miles of track will be added to the Swindon and Cricklade Railway and 17 miles of new paths and cyclepaths will be built. There will be no roads involved.

Ken Oliver, the chief executive of the Wilts and Berks Canal Trust said: "We are very excited about this project and we are confident of getting the grant.

"This isn't a project that we have just dreamed up to make use of the cash - this is something we have been planning for seven or eight years and now we are close to being able to push it forward.

"We are confident of success because we are competing with several single projects such as canal restorations.

"But our project encompasses a whole range of projects which will give people the choice to travel between these three areas in a number of different ways and this will help to boost tourism and visitors to the area."

The project would also see work carried out on 140 hectares of new forest, woodland and wetland habitats for wildlife and the 48-hectare country park at Mouldon Hill on the edge of Swindon.

There will also be a Cricklade visitor and sports centre, two mooring basins for canal boats, an outdoor forest school centre and opportunities for youth training schemes.

"We are getting a lot of support from the various councils and other organisations such as Sustrans, the Swindon and Cricklade Railway and the Great Western Community Forest," added Mr Oliver.

The project has progressed to the final stages of the grant application and has been given a £250,000 contribution to put together a business plan and application to the Lottery's Living Landmarks fund.

That application has to be ready by May next year and the Cricklade Country Way will be up against nine other projects.

To find out more about the project, visit www.crickladecountryway.org.uk