The Big Lottery Fund has received final applications from the six schemes short-listed for its Living Landmarks: The People’s Millions competition.

In August 2006, each contestant was awarded a £500,000 grant to create more detailed applications on how they plan to regenerate their local communities, should they win the coveted £25–50m prize.

The Black Country Consortium’s scheme, called A Million People – The Black Country as Urban Park, aims to reclaim and link abandoned pits, canals and green spaces in the Midlands for public enjoyment.

A similar scheme by Somerset County Council – named Waterlinks – includes more than 20 individual projects showcasing how water has been and can be harnessed to benefit the environment and public.

Competitor Sustrans has also submitted an umbrella initiative called Connect2, which embraces 79 separate projects, each of which would link deprived areas with some scenic areas via walking and cycling routes using bridges, tunnels and ferries to reduce road congestion tourism.

An entirely different proposal is that of Inspired by The Science Museum Swindon – a £64m attraction showcasing a collection of 250,000 unseen exhibitions on creating robots, hot air balloons and solar-powered cars.

Sherwood: the Living Legend on the other hand intends to create environmentally friendly visitor facilities, which would encompass walking, cycling and horse riding networks across the ancient oak forest.

The Eden Project in Cornwall also plans to build a £67m environmentally friendly attraction based on climate change. The Edge explores past social transformations and best practice on how to live in our environment with the impact of climate change.

Each project will be presented on ITV’s Living Landmark television series this autumn, which will culminate in a public vote towards the end of the year.

In addition, a further 29 projects have submitted their final applications for a small number of grants worth £10m to £25m. The Living Landmarks programme committee will cast the deciding vote on these schemes this autumn.

Photograph: Sherwood: the Living Legend