IT was set up in memory of a York environmentalist, John Lally, who died 12 years ago.

Now the John Lally International Foundation is set to restore a piece of paradise lost in Goa, India, after winning a £10,000 lottery grant.

The money will fund a feasibility study into plans to clear a rubbish tip situated near a tourist resort called Saligao. It will also look into planting a community woodland, creating new recycling facilities and setting up India's first sustainable community centre, as well as investigating the possibilities of providing free health education to local people, especially on HIV/Aids prevention.

The project is intended to follow the precedent set by St Nicholas Fields Nature Reserve in Tang Hall, which was created out of a disused rubbish tip and later won praise from Tony Blair as "an example of sustainable community action".

York environmentalist Gordon Campbell-Thomas, who co-ordinated the St Nicholas Fields project for a decade from 1994 before moving to Goa in 2004, is behind the new Indian proposals.

Foundation chairperson Sandy Jaffries said he was "ecstatically happy" with the award from the BIG Lottery Fund. "Goa is seen by many as a holiday haven, where sun, sand and sea beckon the tourist," he said.

"However there is another side that tourists don't see, that is the degradation of the green Goan land that is not only causing problems now, but is piling up problems for future generations. The current site lying on a hill plateau is being spoilt by unchecked dumping of mixed garbage from the mainly tourist areas of Calangute and Saligao.

The problem lies in the fact that there is no real segregation of the waste, and that the rising numbers of tourists are putting increased pressure on the limited resources available there.

"We made a positive impact in York, and I believe that we will have a similar impact in Goa."

He said that the foundation had grown some years ago out of a group known as Friends of John Lally Wood, which had planted a five-acre community woodland in memory of Mr Lally at St Nicholas Fields.

"However, not satisfied with stopping there, they went on to form the John Lally International Foundation three years ago to continue the work started at St Nicholas Fields on the international stage."