A LOTTERY grant worth nearly £40,000 has left campaigners near victory in their bid to buy a Helsby wood for the community.

The Friends of Harmers Wood group has won a £39,600 Heritage Lottery grant and £16,000 in Vale Royal Rural Recovery Fund money.

The funds mean campaigners will be able to meet Cholmondeley Estates' £32,000 asking price while also having cash to cover legal fees and maintain and promote the site.

They already have £5,000 from Cheshire County Council's Sandstone Ridge Econet Project and more than £2,500 in public pledges, including £1,000 from Helsby Parish Council.

The bid to buy the 8.8 acre wood was launched more than a year ago.

Paintballing and pistol-shooting companies were rumoured to be involved in a bidding war reaching nearly £60,000 but Cholmondeley, which has never enforced 'no public access' signs, said its preference was to sell to the community.

Campaigner Maureen Parker said: 'This is brilliant news, we're delighted. We've made it at last after all the hard work.'

Fellow campaigner, Audrey Davies, added: 'We now have enough money, it's just a case of waiting for it to go into the bank.'