COUNCIL and environmental agencies have come up with a tree-mendous idea to kick-start the borough's Millennium celebrations.

The Millennium Wood will be located at Outwood in Radcliffe and everyone - from the very young to the not so very young - can play their part in its creation.

Around £300,000 is to be made available for the project which is designed to make the borough a brighter, safer and healthier place through environmental, community and education initiatives.

The site covers approximately 35 hectares and takes in land formerly occupied by mining spoil and other activities associated with the nearby Outwood Colliery and the Radcliffe power station.

The land has undergone basic reclamation and is now established as unmanaged grassland and immature planted and self-seeded woodland. Large open areas of land will provide significant new tree planting.

And this is where YOU come in.

Millennium Wood co-ordinator Mr John Leatherbarrow said: "The Millennium Wood project will be a real community effort involving schools, youth groups, volunteers and professional contractors working together to produce a new woodland for the community.

"A significant amount of new tree planting will take place, but the overall aim is to establish a woodland for the new Millennium which is both accessible and welcoming to the public.

"The project will therefore have a very strong focus upon improving existing footpaths to and through the wood, and creating new paths, catering where possible for wheelchairs, horses and cycles." The Millennium Wood will also involve a partnership between the local authority and a number of environmental and conservation groups who will be tasked to organise controlled planting and arrange and staff school and community educational visits to the area from January 2000.

The Croal Irwell Valley Range Service will be the contact point for schools and community activities on the site and visits to the Philips Park Barn Countryside Centre, where the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers will also provide the educational aspects of the Millennium Wood.

Individuals and groups can also play their part in the Millennium Wood's growth through initiatives including the "Plant a Tree" scheme and Design the Wood competition.

Mr Leatherbarrow said: "The Millennium Wood project is in its infancy, and designs for the content and shape of the new woodland landscape are far from finalised.

"If people have views on the woodland project in general, or specific ideas as to how it ought to take shape please let us know.

"We are looking for bright new woodland ideas which we can incorporate into the project."

Send your views to: Mr Jim Metcalf, borough planning officer, Bury Metro, Craig House, Bank Street, Bury.

VISITS TO THE MILLENNIUM WOOD FOR SCHOOLS AND COMMUNITY GROUPS.

If you are a teacher, governor or parent and you would like to register your school or community group for a working woodlands trip to the Millennium Wood, contact the Croal Irwell Valley Range Service on 01204 571561.

There is no need to arrange a specific date for the visit. Just register your interest and the Rangers will get back to you early in the New Year.

The visits will include tree planting or other activities within the wood, and a visit to the environmental classroom at Philips Park Barn.

A group of up to 35 children from each school within the borough will have the opportunity to visit the Barn and the wood, and transport to and from schools will be provided free of charge.

Alternatively, the Rangers can arrange school visits to talk about the Millennium Wood. The British Trust for Conservation Volunteers will also be running visits to the Barn in connection with the national Trees of Time and Place Initiative, an educational aspect of the Wood. More information on the BTCV project is available from Lawrence Kitchinson on 0161 796 6404.

DESIGN the WOOD COMPETITION.

The Millennium Wood lies within the Outwood Community Parkland where much work has already been done in this area, with the new Outwood Trail, the restored viaduct and the Irwell Sculpture Trail to add to the parkland reclamation of the former railway, industrial and colliery land.

However, there is still a substantial area of land at the heart of the Outwood area, within the Millennium Wood which could be brought into more active use as community woodland or parkland.

If you would like to submit your own designs for this particular piece of the Millennium Wood, the planning department will provide more detailed plans of the area, including some historical plans showing the area as it was in its industrial heyday. Contact Ruth Speake on 0161 253 5327 for and information and design pack.

Pictured are Councillors Julie Higson and Stuart Kaufman and (kneeling) Kathryn Fairclough, a countryside ranger, carry out a recce of the planting area adjacent the Outwood Viaduct. With them are St Joseph's pupils (from left)Lauren Holt (9), Joseph Brady (8), Jessica Kay (9), and Sean Boyes (9).

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.