A funding bid worth £5m has been submitted to the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) for the redevelopment of Forest Recreation Ground in Nottingham.

Several organisations have been involved in putting the bid together, including Nottingham City Council, the Neighbourhood Development Company (NDC) and a volunteer group called Friends of the Forest. Plans for the redevelopment of the 77-acre site have already been drafted by LDA Design, and if the HLF bid is successful, a further nine months of design work will be required before work can begin.

The project would see the restoration of the recreation ground's Central Pavilion and the Forest Lodge, as well as the creation of a new cafe and improved facilities for children. Dave Trimble, responsible for parks and open spaces at NCC, said: "Nottingham City Council has shown its commitment to the project from the start, and believes that a successful lottery bid will bring huge benefits to the community and Nottingham as a whole."

June Perry, from Friends of the Forest, said: "Many people don't realise that the Forest was a leading and highly significant venue for Nottingham in decades gone by. In the early part of the 19th century, it was the home of Nottingham Racecourse and also Nottingham Forest Football Club." A £60,000 fighting fund was made available by the HLF earlier in the year to help with the development of the bid, and it will now take around six months for the funding body to decide whether to decide whether the Forest bid will be successful.