LEVER Park Special School is the latest entrant in Bolton’s Green Heroes competition.

The Horwich school is hoping that a project to donate land for the community to use to grow their own vegetables will impress the judges.

It is the latest environmentally-friendly scheme designed by Lever Park, which wants to become the borough’s first Foundation Trust school.

As part of this, the school has applied for lottery funding to renovate an old football field to use as community allotments.

Headteacher Colin Roscoe said: “We have done some work in the community and people are very keen to get involved.

“We already have a polytunnel, which the pupils use to grow their own fruit and vegetables.

“We are focused on healthy eating and helping the environment and we want to expand this and offer people in the community the chance to get involved.”

The school, in Stocks Park Drive, has applied to the Heritage Lottery Fund for a £25,000 grant to help fund the project.

Mr Roscoe said: “The playing field is on a slope and there are drainage problems with it so it is not fit for purpose at the moment.

“We are hoping that if we get the lottery funding we will be able to transform it.”

A Foundation Trust school forms a charitable trust with outside partners in a bid to raise standards and explore new ways of working.

Lever Park Special School is hoping to team up with Friends of Lever Park, the University of Bolton, Savant Distribution Limited, Rathbone — a charitable organisation that provides post-16 vocational education — and Bolton Council to form the trust.

The school’s leadership team says the move will give the school greater independence and flexibility to meet the needs of its pupils.

They also say that the trust partners would provide more opportunities for pupils.

l The Bolton News, in conjunction with Middlebrook Retail and Leisure Park, is running Green Heroes 2008, a competition which rewards the town’s most environmentally friendly people and organisations. There are five categories: greenest business, household, community group, individual and school.

Category winners will receive £200 in Middlebrook vouchers and there will be an overall winner who will be given an additional £500. For more information, visit theboltonnews.co.uk