CIVIC officials have recommended plans to allocate £170,000 to help improve Upton Country Park.

Earlier this year Borough of Poole announced it had launched a bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) for the 'Discovery Project’.

The project aims to further enhance the country park and increase the number of volunteering and learning opportunities available to the local community.

It will focus on three main themes - people, heritage, and landscapes - and aims to create an accessible and sustainable heritage attraction and improve facilities.

The HLF bid will be a two stage process, the first of which is due to be submitted in August this year and is expected to be in the region of £1.8million.

One of the key elements of phase one would see the existing car park toilet block converted into a new 'welcome centre', which aims to provide a central point for visitors to access information about the site, while also allowing for improved opportunities for volunteering.

If approved, the bid will also allow the county park team to invest in improved volunteer facilities within the works yard area and create new training and learning opportunities for volunteers and the local community.

The project will also include infrastructure improvements at the park, which have been described as being at "critical level", which include collapsed drains in Cooper’s Yard and drainage problems throughout the estate.

The project will also see the reinstatement of historical pathways and vistas which will link Upton House to the wider park.

Members of Borough of Poole's place overview and scrutiny committee were asked to formally support the lottery bid at a meeting on Wednesday (june21).

They also recommended plans to allocate £170,000 from the council's corporate capital contingency as part of the match funding required to support the HLF bid.