AN appeal to raise £3.5 million by the end of the year to buy the historic Smithills estate is doing better than planned – despite a devastating moorland fire on part of the site.

The Woodland Trust has already raised £2 million of its £3.5 million target to purchase the 1,700-acre site from Bolton Council by asking for donations from the public.

Now, the campaign has been given a £69,000 boost from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) so the charity can undertake more community consultation and carry out ecological and historical surveys.

Woodland Trust bosses are confident that, if this first stage is delivered successfully, they will be in a strong position to receive an additional £1.8 million from the HLF.

But on top of the initial £3.5 million target campaigners need to raise an extra £5 million over the next 20 years — £1 million to £2 million in the first five years — for site restorations.

And while the campaign is running ahead of schedule, the charity is still appealing for donations.

Mark Gordon, Smithills project lead for the Woodland Trust, said: “We want to celebrate the history of the area too by bringing its hidden and important industrial and archaeological features to life.

“Our hope is to welcome more people to the site by improving public access, creating new engagement activities and opportunities, as well as attracting social enterprise.

“The public campaign is further ahead than we thought it would be at this stage, which is fantastic, and is gaining recognition both locally and nationally.

“I think people have been inspired by how big and bold the Woodland Trust is being with our ambitions for this project.”

Smithills estate, 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.

The Woodland Trust wants to restore habitats at the estate — which was taken over by Bolton Council in 1938.

Negotiations between Bolton Council 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.

Town hall chiefs have given the charity time to fundraise to buy the site.

They have also committed to spending £500,000 on Smithills Hall, which will remain council property.

Earlier this month more than 50 firefighters were called to Winter Hill after a moorland fire broke out.

Huge plumes of smoke from the blaze on June 11, which is believed to have been sparked by a small campfire or cigarette butt, could be seen across parts of Bolton.

Mr Gordon said a 100-acre patch of moorland was burnt off in the blaze — damaging the populations of ground-nesting birds.

To find out more about the project, or to make a donation towards The Woodland's Trust's purchase of the Smithills estate, visit woodlandtrust.org.uk/smithills