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What are Living Landmarks?

They will be projects in a Big Lottery Fund programme that will award grants of between £10m and £50m to schemes that transform and regenerate community areas in need of investment.

The programme, which will award a total of £140m, is an example of the new ways lottery money is being spent. Projects must demonstrate involvement and support from communities through all stages of project development.

What stage is the programme at now?

No projects have been finalised yet, but Big Lottery Fund has shortlisted 29 projects from the 346 applications it received. The applicants battled it out through eligibility checks, assessment, scoring and a two-day intensive interview.

The 29 shortlisted projects are being awarded up to £500,000 to develop their proposals and will submit their Stage 2 applications in May 2007.

They will undergo a more rigorous assessment and the final grants will be awarded in autumn 2007.

Big fun: Blackpool wants cash to turn its seafront into a ‘People’s Playground’

What type of projects are in the running?

The community-driven approach has led to an interesting variety of projects, from a garden project in Scotland and an iconic bridge in Belfast to a performing arts centre on a former tin mine in Wales. Meanwhile in Blackpool, urban regeneration company ReBlackpool is bidding for cash to transform its seafront into a People’s Playground or year-round urban park. It is using its £500,000 grant to launch an international design competition.

With so many regeneration projects out there and so little major capital funding coming from the lottery, it is not surprising that this programme has been inundated with imaginative projects.

Is there anything else I should know about Living Landmarks?

The final decision will be made by a televised public vote on ITV. Charles Allen, the outgoing chief executive of ITV, says of the scheme: “With the eventual winner taking away up to £50m to create a national living landmark, this is the most ambitious community-based project ITV has ever undertaken”.