A CAMPAIGN to raise £3.5 million by the end of the year to buy the historic Smithills estate is well underway.

The Woodland Trust is appealing to its members to help it purchase the vast 1,700-acre site from Bolton Council.

This week, the conservation charity gave public the chance to find out more at consultation sessions held at Bolton Library and Smithills Hall.

A £1.8 million National Lottery bid and some legacy cash could help fund the project, but the Woodland Trust is keen for as much of the total as possible to come from donations.

Sara Wood, the trust’s Smithills estate fundraiser, said: “It is going to be a big challenge for us but everyone wants to make this happen.

“Smithills is a very important project for us because it is very different to anything that we have done before.”

The Woodland Trust estimates an extra £5 million will need to be raised over the next two decades – £1-2 million of this in the first five years – for the estate to be restored.

The plot, which stretches to the west of Smithills Dean Road and is shadowed by the Winter Hill TV mast, is the size of 1,000 football pitches and will be the biggest the charity has ever taken on.

Areas of moorland, grassland, heathland and wooded cloughs were once teeming with wildlife but neglect and underinvestment means valuable habitats are suffering.

The Woodland Trust wants to restore the dried-out blanket bogs, double the amount of trees, improve paths and walls and add visitor signs about the site’s industrial heritage.

Mark Gordon, Smithills project lead, said it he hoped parts of the estate will be designated as areas of special scientific interest.

He said: “We see this site as important not just locally, but on a national scale.

“As well as the chance to develop the mosaic landscape, Smithills is also fantastic because it is close to people. We want to increase visitor numbers and get the public interacting with the site.

“This is a chance for us to try out some new ideas and show what we can do.”

Smithills Estate, which dates back to the 14th century, was taken over by Bolton Council in 1938.

Negotiations between the authority and the Woodland Trust began in 2013 and provisional terms for the sale of the freehold title, including existing farm tenancies, woodland and the Barrow Bridge public car park, were agreed last February.

The deal will also see town hall chiefs spend £500,000 on the Grade I-listed Smithills Hall, which will remain council property.

To make a donation go to woodlandtrust.org.uk/smithills and for more information or to give feedback email markgordon@woodlandtrust.org.uk