A HERITAGE Lottery grant for £5m could provide Harrogate's famous Valley Gardens with a facelift.

A public meeting has been called for Wednesday, June 19 at the Valley Gardens' Sun Pavilion to explain proposals which it is hoped will attract the payout.

An exhibition on the scheme will also go on show in the Mercer Art Gallery in Swan Road near the gardens from June 20-July 2.

Harrogate Borough Council has already secured £10,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund to complete an historic landscape survey and restoration scheme.

The project aims to retain the original character of the area.

Proposals for enhancing the gardens, at a cost of more than £5m, were first unveiled in October 1996.

The Grade II listed gardens, which cover 17 acres, were boosted in December 1998 when the Queen re-opened the £500,000 restored sun pavilion overlooking the gardens.