Notts County Council has put in a £3 million bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund to boost conservation of natural and cultural heritage in Sherwood Forest.
Working with a number of partner, the county council is leading on a bid for funding from the HLF’s Landscapes Partnership programme.
Competition for funding is high, with organisations able to bid for between £100,000 and £3 million for projects to run for around five years.
If the first stage of the bid is successful, a further phase of development work will be needed before schemes could be implemented on the ground in 2016.
Sally Gill, group manager for planning at Notts County Council said: “We already work very closely with a range of agencies to conserve Sherwood Forest and it makes sense to make an application.”
“It is very early stages, but thanks to some hard work by many partners, we have made an application today.”
“If ultimately successful in this application process, it will offer great opportunities for local people to find out more about the heritage of Sherwood Forest,” she added.
The county council currently manages Sherwood Forest National Nature Reserve - a site of special scientific interest and home to the legendary Major Oak in Robin Hood country.
But the bid for funding would support projects in a wider area – 200 square kilometres of land covered by Sherwood Forest, and managed by a range of public and private landowners.