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£50m lottery vote begins

07/12/2007

A giant coin was unveiled in central London today marking the start of a £50 million lottery-funded project contest.

From today, members of the public can vote on which of four proposals gets the £50 million award from the Big Lottery Fund.

The Eden Project, Sustrans, Sherwood and Black Country Urban Park have made it to the shortlist and are seeking to win approval before phone lines close at noon on Monday.

The Lottery award is the biggest ever decided by the public vote and, in keeping with the general theme of size, the pound coin revealed in London today is suitably large.

Weighing in at 12 tons the wooden coin is seven metres high and 70cm deep – large enough to fit inside it all the 50 million pound coins being given in the vote.

"The People's £50 Million Lottery contest is a truly groundbreaking initiative, giving everyone in the UK the opportunity to decide which of these highly deserving projects will receive the single biggest award of Big Lottery funding through [the] public vote," Big Lottery Fund chair Sir Clive Booth said.

"The giant coin in London today signifies the huge amount of Lottery cash going back into the UK – showing that your £1 really does make a huge difference, so get involved and vote for your favourite project."