BEAUTY spots and community projects across the borough are set to benefit from a £2.5 million windfall.

Under planning law, developers who cannot incorporate green space into major prospects have to pay a ‘Section 106’ contribution so town hall bosses can spearhead community projects nearby.

A new report shows there is £2,555,075 available to spend on projects across the borough, of which £716,000 must be spent on recreation.

The council report says most of it is allocated and will be spent on improving play areas, bowling facilities and allotments.

Since last November, £86,605 has been spent on making improvements to: Play areas in Broad Oak, Clarence Park, Openshaw Park, Springs and Dow Lane, Allotments in Lancaster Avenue, Holcombe Brook and Egypt Lane, Simister, Burrs Canal, Nuttall Park bowls pavilion and paths, changing rooms in Bolton Road West, Ramsbottom, a St Mary’s Flower Park in Prestwich, a Boundary works at the former Radcliffe Paper Mill.

Another £187,044 is set to be spent on improving local nature reserves.

Since November, £41,621 has been used to employ a nature reserve officer, fund the Woolfold Gap Project, and to improve access to Kirklees Valley.

Roch Valley’s greenway maintenance fund is set to receive £130,823, which will be spent when a land transfer goes through.

The owners of Shrewsbury House, Prestwich, gave £3,000, which will be spent enhancing woodland on the site.

Just over £200,000 is to be spent on public art, as a result of developments at the Wharfside and Bury Boot and Shoe development in Woodbank, and at Olives Paper Mill in Tottington Road, Woolfold.

“The artwork could potentially be provided on Brandlesholme Road end of the Kirklees Trail, which is close to both these sites,” the report says.

Last year, £37,600 was spent on organising the 2012 Bury Light Night festival, which was a series of cultural events in the town centre last October.

The biggest portion of the cash — £759,586 — will be spent on creating affordable housing.

Of that, £617,000 has been spent on bringing 14 empty houses back into use in Brandlesholme Road, Bury and 10 properties in Newbridge Close, Radcliffe, to reduce the housing waiting list.

Another £534,372 will be spent on projects to get people into work.

For example, £127,182 is to be spent transforming the Bradley Fold Industrial Estate site, demolishing dilapidated buildings so new companies can potentially move in.

Also, £16,600 is to be spent on a study which aims to suggest how a patch of land in Clerke Street, near The Rock, can be used.