EVERY inch of Nottingham's underground caves could be opened up to view in a virtual tour.

Trent and Peak Archeology, part of the University of Nottingham, has bid for money to carry out the most comprehensive study of the caves yet.

Using laser scanning, each of the rock and sandstone caves will be mapped out in minute detail.

Research will also record where they are located, their historical significance and geological properties, their condition, who owns them, and whether they can be accessed by the public.

All of this information will be stored in a database that will be available to everyone, via a website, allowing people across the world to learn everything there is to know about the caves.

The images gathered will also let people take a three-dimensional, virtual "fly-through" of the caves – meaning even the ones that are not safe to enter can be "explored" in great detail.

The £250,000 study, known as The Caves of Nottingham Regeneration Project, is expected to take about two-and-a-half years to complete.

Project officer Dr David Walker said: "It will be the most detailed survey of Nottingham's caves so far.

"It will look at the regeneration of Nottingham's caves as a resource.

"This initial two-and-a-half-year project is primarily a survey project and recommendation report.

"We hope that will really cement the start of the regeneration of the caves as a tourism resource, and quite literally put them on the map as an important resource for Nottingham.

"At the moment it is certainly an under-exploited resource.

"They are a unique thing to Nottingham. There is no other city that has anything like Nottingham's caves.

"But we are not known well enough for the caves inside the city, let alone outside.

"We would like, at the end of the project, for Nottingham's caves to be nationally and internationally known, and let it be known that there is more to Nottingham than Robin Hood."

People across the city will also be asked to pass on their knowledge of caves as part of the study.

Once all the information has been collated there would be a series of meetings, with members of the public and groups such as the Nottingham Civic Society, to gather ideas about how they could be used.

Dr Walker said the project could lead to more never-before-seen caves being opened for people to walk around, as well as the possibility of accessing the information on mobile phones.

"The British Geological Survey did a register of caves in the late 1980s," he said. "They listed 460 caves and, of those, about 260 of them are listed as 'status unknown'.

"We don't know exactly how many caves there are. There are certainly lots that are forgotten.

"And there is no end of people who have caves in their cellars across the city and as archeological work happens we are constantly finding more. For example, at the Nottingham Contemporary Art Centre there were a number of caves that were previously unknown."

Most of the funding for the project has already been secured, from the University of Nottingham, the Greater Nottingham Partnership and Nottingham City Council.

A bid has been made to another source for the remaining cash and the project could start in October or November this year.

Hilary Silvester, chairman of the Nottingham Civic Society, said members supported the study as they wanted more caves to be accessible.

The society already has a Caves Forum, which meets up to four times a year, with the aim of lobbying landowners such as the city council to open up more hidden spaces.

"We are a city built on caves – a few that have been there a long time and some that have been manmade," said Mrs Silvester. "But there is a feeling among a lot of people that it is something Nottingham has got, but is gradually losing, because developers don't see it as tourism."

jon.robinson@nottinghameveningpost.co.uk