PRESTON is to host a major festival at the docks this summer as part of international celebrations to mark the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar and the death of Lord Admiral Nelson.

SeaBritain 2005, spearheaded by the Greenwich Maritime Museum, will be held across Britain and Europe and bring together more than 1,000 events and organisations to celebrate the historic anniversary.

The five-day festival, to be held in Preston, would feature battle re-enactments, concerts, a firework display, a charity dinner, a fashion show, a historical exhibition, and a number of educational events.

Preston's maritime history would also be showcased with an exhibition at the Harris Museum, depicting dockland history, and workshops about the docks with British Waterways chiefs and other groups.

It would also celebrate the 50 year anniversary of the city's twinning with the French city, Nimes.

The plans are set to cost more than £90,000, with £55,500 coming out of council tax payers money, £11,500 coming from the University of Central Lancashire, and the rest from sponsorship and advertising.

In a report to the council's cabinet, the council chief executive, Jim Carr, states the festival could help make Preston "an example of 21st century living, capitalising on its unique water related assets."

The report states that more than a third of the budget for the festival will be spent on promoting the events, in a bid to learn lessons from last summer's two-week International City Festival, which was widely criticised for a lack of advertising.

The plans have to be approved by the council's cabinet and all 57 councillors in the council.

Council leader, Councillor John Collins, said: "It was a part of the International City Festival that was successful last year, I think it is a legitimate use of money."

Keen boater and opposition leader, Coun Ken Hudson, said the plans are likely to receive cross party support.

The cabinet was expected to make a decision at a meeting last night (Wednesday).