A covered shopping precinct, a Laurel and Hardy sculpture and an arts trail are just some of the big ideas being promoted to boost Ulverston and the surrounding communities of Low Furness.

The schemes have emerged from a year of extensive consultation work among residents as part of the Market Town Initiative (MTI).

Some 43 rejuvenating projects have made it into a draft `action plan', which is being finalised to produce a definitive plan by the end of September.

Each idea will be assessed by The Countryside Agency - the organisation holding the strings to a public purse loaded with £8 million to support market town projects.

CA officers will also offer advice on how to bid for funding from other sources like the North West Development Agency and Sport England.

In the running for finance is a scheme to create a Victorian-style covered shopping precinct encompassing the existing Market Hall and the Coniston House area.

It could include a glass roof topping New Market Street and Brogden Street and would include a refit for the indoor market hall.

Another proposal is to finally give Ulverston a sculpture of its most famous son, Stan Laurel, and his portly partner, Oliver Hardy.

The Laurel and Hardy project group has already raised £27,000 towards the sculpture and approached the artist who created Morecambe's popular Eric Morecambe statue.

The group is now looking to the MTI to find the balance of the project of £28,300.

If it goes ahead, the comedy duo could take up residence on the corner of Market Place and New Market Street.

Another contender likely to clinch MTI cash is the Greenways project to link Ulverston canal, Booths supermarket and Heron Glass on the outskirts of the town to the centre via a `themed art trail', to create a Greenodd/Ulverston cycleway and to clean up the canal.

A feasibility study is required to put detail into the plan and determine the route of any trail before the scheme can get off the ground.

Also in the running for funding are a number of projects to improve facilities for youngsters in the town.

The Ford Park Community Group is looking for £75,000 to help build a skate park, play area and picnic area in the grounds of Ford Park and for money to renovate the hall to provide community rooms, office space for voluntary groups and an activity hall for recreation and indoor sports like karate and aerobics.

The Spirit of Youth Group is looking for £25,000 to help buy premises in the town centre and employ staff including two youth workers.

Smaller sums are being sought to support local sports clubs, particularly to enhance sporting opportunities for girls in a project to be led by South Lakeland District Council.

Ulverston's town centre manager Jayne Kendall said the plan represented "grass roots ideas" to improve the town and its surrounding parishes.

"What we have with this document is a major strategy for the town which is what we needed... it's another thing to put the town on the map."

Town mayor Coun Dave Miller said the plan gave Ulverston "a kick up the bum".

"Ulverston 2000+ has been going for six years and I think in certain aspects it has gone a bit stale - everything we could do we had done.

By this extra (Countryside Agency) cash it can give them ideas to go ahead and look at what else we can do.

"Millions of pounds could be drawn down, it could be less than that but the potential is there if the Countryside Agency thinks these are good ideas."