WORK to radically transform an Ipswich park has moved a step closer after the go-ahead was given to seek millions of pounds in lottery funding.Ipswich Borough Council is hoping to secure £3million in funding from the heritage lottery fund to revamp Holywells Park in a similar way to the current works at Christchurch Park.

WORK to radically transform an Ipswich park has moved a step closer after the go-ahead was given to seek millions of pounds in lottery funding.

Ipswich Borough Council is hoping to secure £3million in funding from the heritage lottery fund to revamp Holywells Park in a similar way to the current works at Christchurch Park.

Liz Harsant, leader of the council, said £75,000 has been set aside to allow for final preparatory work on the formal bid for funding.

She said: “A lot of work needs to be done for the final application and it needs to be submitted by the end of January.

“Holywells Park has a number of beautiful features and if we can get funding we will have the opportunity to restore it to its full splendour.”

She is a member of the friends of Holywells Park and earlier this year helped to launch a new cycle path there.

John Carnall, finance portfolio holder at Ipswich Borough Council, said: “We will be asking them to put up £3million if we put in £1million - 25 per cent.

“We would like to renovate parts of the park and be able to maintain it.

“There are various buildings and areas that are quite historic.

“We want to create a nicer environment there and for more people to use it.

“It is the nearest green park area to all the new buildings on the waterfront where there is not really any green open space.

“It can be a beautiful place for people living on the waterfront and around that area.”

Christchurch Park received a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund of around £4 million back in 2004 for a programme of extensive renovation and restoration of its facilities and historical features.

Mr Carnall said a further bid for lottery money, for cash to transform Chantry Park, could be made in the coming years.

Would you welcome work to transform Holywells Park? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk