A PARK could undergo a £1.8m revamp as part of a lottery bid launched by the council.

Burnley Council has submitted its application for Heritage Lottery Fund cash to pay for major modifications to Memorial Park, in Padiham.

It has asked for £890,000 from the Lottery, which is almost half of the total investment of £1.8m, planned for the park. The remainder of the costs will be met by the local authority and other funding.

Only two out of the 12 local authorities in the north west that have submitted bids will be successful and council chiefs will discover the results next March.

If the application is successful, the council will be invited to develop the scheme in more detail and if the project is given final approval, work will start in 2010.

Coun Charlie Bullas, the council’s executive member for leisure and recreation, said: “The application is called a Parks for People bid and that’s exactly what Memorial Park is - a park for people to enjoy and make full use of.

“We’ve already seen the benefits of Heritage Lottery Funding with the work that’s gone on in Towneley Park. I’m convinced that a successful Memorial Park bid will help transform this popular park and bring many benefits to Padiham.”

The council’s parks development manager Ian Sturzaker, who put the HLF bid together, added: “The funding process is highly competitive and although we’re confident that our bid is an excellent one we also have to be realistic and say we may not be successful.

“However even if that is so, we hope that the funding we’ve already identified will allow us to carry out some improvements in Memorial Park, particularly refurbishing the children’s play areas and the restoration plan that we have prepared can be used to secure other forms of funding.”

Memorial Park was opened in 1921 after Thomas Clayton of Burnley made a bequest his will in 1915 to create a park in the area.