Staff behind the city council's £25m Living Landmarks Lottery bid - which proposes an exciting development of the

waterfront - will know on Friday if their bid has passed stage one.

Three new bridges, a landmark public square and a lighthouse are among the key features of the plans.

There are 150 other projects vying for funding from the £140m available.

Lottery bosses are currently leafing through the detailed proposals to see if the scheme is worthy of a site visit.

Once the first hurdle is passed the project will be given a score and listed for a site visit in April.

There will be 70 plans on the shortlist for a site visit, which will be whittled down to 30 in May.

If the waterfront development is in the final 30, the council will be asked to prepare a final detailed bid.

A final decision on who gets full funding will be made in June 2007.

Council chief executive David Wareing said: "Projects need to have a 'wow' factor if they are to have any chance of success and we certainly feel that our plans have something special about them."