A PROJECT to provide more opportunities for people visiting Burrator Reservoir could soon be underway.

South West Lakes Trust with the support of Burrator Advisory Group has been successful on their stage one application to Heritage Lottery Fund — a heritage officer has been recruited for eleven months to now develop the key ideas and submit the final funding application for February 2012.

Currently the Burrator catchment receives more than 250,000 visits a year. The majority of visitors take part in informal activities such as walking, picnicking and enjoying the countryside, but only a small number take the opportunity to learn about the historic or natural environment at Burrator.

If the application is successful the 'Burrator Historic and Natural Environment Project' hopes to address this by providing more opportunities for people to become involved in either the built or natural heritage via self-guided trails and provide an events, education and volunteer programme.

The project will enable important works to be carried out to safeguard the future of several upstanding ruins and many historical sites, and develop a volunteer team to carry out the habitat and species conservation plan, overseen by a full-time member of staff over a three-year period.

Burrator Reservoir is set within a Premier Archaeological Landscape, hosting a wide range of historic buildings and features dating from 2500 BC, and is an important site for nature conservation.