People can vote for the coastal path to win the Lottery award

Nearly �14m of lottery funding has helped regenerate the Carmarthenshire shoreline, which attracts half a million visitors every year.

Out of 700 entries for the Amazing Spaces prize, the park will compete against St George's Market in Belfast and The Lowry in Salford.

The public vote will decide the winner, which will be announced next month.

The park, opened in June 2002, is in the final of the Helping Hand Awards, established to mark the 10th anniversary of the National Lottery.

The results will be announced at the Tate Modern in London on Saturday 6 November.

A National Lottery spokesperson said: "The National Lottery Helping Hand Awards aim to celebrate the remarkable achievements of the 175,000 good cause projects across the UK which have received Lottery funding over the last 10 years.

"The award winners will be decided entirely by public vote."

The coastal park began as an attempt to regenerate 22km and 2,000 acres of contaminated and neglected industrial wasteland and coastal plain.

It stretches from Pembrey Country Park in the west to the National Wetlands Centre of Wales at Penclawdd in the east.

Visitor centre

Land which had become almost derelict after 200 years of coal and steel production now boasts cycle trails, six lakes, a marina and promenade.

The seafront had been one of the most polluted coastlines in the UK.

A �2m visitor centre which has attracted both European and Welsh Assembly Government regeneration funding should open by the end of 2004.