A MILLION pound improvement scheme is set to return a Burnley park to its 17th century glory.

Burnley Council will bid for funding from the National Lottery heritage fund to restore historic Towneley Park. Already the fund has agreed to back a feasibility study into the project for the 400-acre site and work has been carried out to research old maps and information about the park's history.

Users of the park are now being asked to play their part by signing a petition in support of the lottery bid and looking over the proposals to their own views and comments about what they want to see.

Assistant parks services manager Simon Goff said: "A couple of years ago we had a management plan for Towneley but not the funding to implement it.

"Some issues in that plan have been built into the lottery application. But we are also looking at how the park used to be.

"Parts have become shabby and we know people are not happy about some aspects. So we want them to tell us what they want so we can build that into the proposal.

"We have consulted historic plans dating back to 1660 and have old photos and even a letter to a nursery from Charles Towneley, ordering trees.

"Some specimens were quite exotic and new to this country at the time and some of the individual trees cost as much as a gardener's wage for a whole year.

"By coincidence the nursery was Veitch's and a relative of the owner Peter Veitch is a consultant on this project.

"In the park there are still examples of most of the trees on Charles Towneley's list."

Mr Goff said 8,000 people signed a petition in support of the council's successful Trees for Burnley partnership lottery bid.

He said: "Other authorities are also bidding for money under the heritage urban parks programme so we are counting on the support of the public to help us secure funding."

A display of the plans is in Towneley Hall until October 18 and services staff will be available on the final day to discuss what is proposed.

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