BLF: And the winner is...

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Wednesday, 12, Dec 2007 12:00

WEDNESDAY 12TH DECEMBER: PEOPLE across the UK have voted and today the BIG Lottery Fund is announcing the winner of The People’s £50 Million Lottery contest; the biggest ever award to be decided by a public vote.

The winner of the Big Lottery Fund £50 million prize is Sustrans: Connect2.

Sustrans: Connect2 is a UK-wide project that will create new cycling and walking routes to improve local travel in 79 communities across the country.

On receiving the news they had won John Grimshaw, CEO and founder of Sustrans said: “To say I am delighted is such an understatement - this is fantastic news for Sustrans. But, more importantly, it is fantastic for the 79 communities and many other partners and local authorities across the UK with whom we have been working for the last two years. We are extremely grateful to everyone who has supported us, but the hard work starts now to build those bridges, tunnels, crossings and networks of paths. Ultimately the real winners will be those millions of people who will now be able to Connect2 their shops, schools, workplaces and each other every day!”

Four projects of national importance went head-to-head in a bid to win the massive £50 million grant, each receiving an initial grant of £500,000 to invest in their project’s development.

The other three projects in the running for the grant were -

• Eden Project: The Edge

• Sherwood: The Living Legend

• Black Country Urban Park

Last week ITV ran a weeklong series of shows casing each of the four projects and phone lines opened for the public to cast their votes on Friday 7th December. For the past two weeks the public have also been able to vote for their favourite project online at www.thepeoples50million.org.uk, all voting closed at 12 noon Monday 10th December.

On notifying the winning project Sir Clive Booth, Head of the BIG Lottery Fund said –

"What an amazing nail-biting journey these contestants have been on. Over the last two years they have entered whole-heartedly into the spirit of the competition.

I congratulate them all - and importantly, the winner of the Big Lottery Fund's People's £50 million prize, SUSTRANS' CONNECT2, whose project to create new walking and cycling routes in 79 communities UK wide took 42 per cent of the vote.

“It has been a great privilege to have been part of this ground-breaking initiative. We have all been impressed by the innovation and energy with which all of the projects have reached out across communities and brought their vision to public attention.

“The BIG Lottery Fund is no stranger to intense competition - in the last year we have been asked for 13 times more money than our annual income. The People's £50 Million contest has given the public a taste of what's involved in giving out good cause grants and how very difficult decisions have to be made.

“At the Big Lottery Fund, we wish of course that they could all be winners. But we trust that the investment we have made in the development of each project's plans will pay dividends for years to come.

“This is the biggest amount of money to be awarded by public vote – and the first time the nation has been given a say on where £50 million of the people’s Lottery funding should go to benefit a project of national importance. “

The BIG Lottery Fund and ITV have been giving the public the chance to vote on their favourite regional community projects for the last three years having already given over £13.6million of lottery money to 229 local projects.

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Further Information available from BIG Lottery Press Office at Cake:

Jodie Butt Laura Bonney

E: Jodie@cakegroup.com E: Laura@cakegroup.com

T: 0207 3073127 T: 0207 3073194

M: 07791 717726 M: 07791717708

Big Lottery Fund Press Office: 020 7211 1888 Out of Hours Contact: 07867 500 572

Notes to Editors

Images from the winning and shortlisted projects are available from BIG Press Office at CAKE, see above.

Interviews are available with Sir Clive Booth, Chief Executive of the BIG Lottery Fund.

• Since its launch in June 2005, Living Landmarks has been supporting projects that make a significant positive contribution to the social and environmental quality of life in the UK.

• Each year Big Lottery Fund is responsible for allocating half the money for good causes raised by the National Lottery, amounting to around £630 million a year

Voting:

The arrangements for voting were agreed by Big Lottery Fund and ITV with guidance from Electoral Reform Services. Only one vote per recognised telephone number or email address was allowed in the voting process. Internet voting at www.thepeoples50million.org.uk opened on 26 November at 9.00 am and closed at 12.00 noon on Monday 10 December.

Telephone voting opened at 9.00 am on Friday 7 December and closed at 12.00 noon on Monday 10 December. Voting from numbers outside the UK were not permitted. Electoral Reform Services reviewed data throughout the voting period, provided advice and certified the final result.

Programmes were broadcast on successive evenings from Monday 3 December to Thursday 6 December. A round up programme was also shown on Friday 7 December.

The order of broadcast has been:

• Monday 3 December – Eden Project: the Edge

• Tuesday 4 December – Sustrans’ Connect2

• Wednesday 5 December – Sherwood: The Living Legend

• Thursday 6 December – Black Country Urban Park

• Friday 7 December – the round up programm