£50m Lottery grant winner unveiled

It scooped 42% of the 286,285 votes entered by members of the public for the competition.

The Sustrans: Connect2 scheme beat three other shortlisted entries to win the £50 million prize - the biggest-ever UK Lottery grant awarded by public vote.

As part of the winning scheme, 79 communities will benefit from new walking and cycling routes which aim to improve local travel. The project involves building bridges, tunnels, crossings and networks of paths.

Funding will be transferred to Sustrans for the scheme over the course of five years, starting in 2008. The Connect2 project will cost a total £140 million, of which £50 million will be Lottery money, with the rest coming from other sources.

The other three disappointed projects which had been shortlisted for the £50 million grant will not get any Lottery funding as a result of the winner-takes-all contest. They are Eden Project: The Edge; Sherwood: The Living Legend; and Black Country Urban Park.

Members of the public voted for their favourite by phone and online.

Announcing the winner, Sir Clive Booth, chair of the Big Lottery Fund which distributes Lottery grant money, said the Sustrans project had won nearly half of all the votes cast.

"It really won hands-down. What did it was that public support was terrific," he said. "Given there were four projects, getting half the vote was a big achievement. I think it has captured people's imaginations because it is going to affect their lives right across the UK."

Speaking after the winning project was announced, Sustrans chief executive John Grimshaw said: "There are 79 towns and settlements which are just going to be changed, I think, out of all recognition. I think this is the start of our culture changing. This gives us all a chance to start again at a personal level and make our own contribution. I think it is hugely important."