A GREAT WALL of Bolton and a parkland extending into the heart of the shopping centre could both be created to welcome the new millennium.

They are among a mass of suggestions "in the melting pot" for when Bolton bids for a share of next summer's third mega-hand-out from the National Lottery Millennium Fund.

The wall project, dreamed up by a council worker in a "brainstorming meeting" at the town hall, is for a brick or stone structure, built between next year and 2000. It would extend from the fringe of the borough to the town centre and would be a gigantic display area for public art.

But no work has been done on drawing up a route or other details.

Cllr Cliff Morris, chairman of the steering Civic Affairs Sub-committee, said: "It may seem an outlandish suggestion but sometimes very positive things come from them. Many of the ideas make Bolton greener and that is a good thing. The public will own whatever we do, so it is important we work as a partnership."

A Millennium Group has been set up and anyone who can help is asked to contact lottery officer Vivienne Morris at the Town Hall.

The green town centre idea is for a linear park, extending Queens Park along a leafy oasis into the heart of Bolton's shopping centre.

Another idea is a loop line to bring the hugely-successful tourist attraction of the Bury to Rawtenstall East Lancs steam railway into Bolton.

Initial suggestions have already been given the once-over by a working party of council, industry and commerce and voluntary sector people.

But director of leisure services Peter Stybelski stressed that all the ideas are there mainly "to stimulate possibly better suggestions" from the public.

And he conceded that many would never see the light of day.

Other suggestions are:

A big new concert hall.

A Textiles through the Ages centre where historic treasures like Crompton's Mule could be on permanent display.

Turn the Croal into a pleasant feature of the town centre and new moves to restore the canal system in the borough - including bringing back the long-lost Church Wharf below Bolton Parish Church.

Alternative Technology or Virtual Reality centres, linked to the super-highway.

Bringing the Metrolink tram network into Bolton borough.

Covering some town centre streets.

A Student Town or Culture Town on the lines of Manchester's China Town.

A new Bolton Millennium Orchestra.

Mr Stybelski said a big consultation exercise will be completed before submission for cash by next summer.

Cllr Morris said: "The key elements will be a desire to make the borough a more pleasant, greener place, to enhance civic pride and unite the various cultures, focusing particularly on young people and their talents."

He said it was hoped the long term benefits to Bolton would be job creation and a greening of the borough.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.