RESTORING Okehampton's Simmons Park to its former glory is what the Town Council hopes to do if a lottery bid for £350,000 is successful.

Plans include extensive repairs to woodland walks, restoration of water features, seats and bridges and replanting of shrubberies.

The land was bought for the town by Sidney Simmons in 1906 to turn into a park and although it is described as charming, Mayor Christine Marsh said it had been neglected for a lot of years.

'This is a beautiful town park in a lovely situation and we really are lucky to have it,' she said. 'It is a terrific asset but we desperately need to do some work out there to restore it to its original glory.

'There are not too many parks around from this period and it is extremely important to the community.'

The whole scheme amounts to over half a million pounds and Okehampton Town Council has earmarked £127,000 to pay for the park management over the next five years.

A decision on the application to the Heritage Lottery Board is likely to take approximately six months.

Landscape design firm Nicholas Pearson Associates of Tiverton was appointed to put together a report for the bid and consultant Simon Bonvoisin said he was very hopeful the town would be successful in getting the funding.

A previous plan submitted to the lottery board in 1995 had concentrated on heritage research and more information was requested in terms of figures and future plans for it to be taken forward.

Cllr Marsh said with the recent disappointment over the failed lottery bid for a sports complex in Okehampton, people needed something positive to concentrate on and she hoped this would provide the right outcome.