Plans for a Robin Hood-themed attraction in Sherwood Forest are still very much alive despite the collapse of a £13m (US$21.4m, €16.2m) deal earlier this year.

Nottinghamshire County Council (NCC) has said it is still fully committed to building a visitor centre by 2017 “in order to do justice to the legend of Robin Hood”, with investors in the project still reportedly very interested in making the idea a reality.

The multi-million pound visitor attraction was due to open in Q1 of 2015, but in June, NCC pulled a deal it had with Discovery Attractions, citing failure to secure enough funding for the project, despite the fact Discovery attested it had secured £60m (US$101.8m, €75.2m) of funding pledged from overseas and UK investors.

With multiple interested parties, NCC has said a formal process of finding a new external partner to work on the visitor centre development will start in the coming weeks, though Discovery Attractions has previously stated it would build the attraction “with or without the council’s backing.”

“Regrettably, Discovery Attractions was unable to provide evidence of the funding needed to take their bid to contract stage,” said NCC’s Steve Bradley. “But we still strongly believe that Sherwood Forest and the legend of Robin Hood provides a great opportunity to develop the tourism potential of the area, whilst protecting the heritage and conservation of the historic country park.

“Following the launch of the formal tendering process in late October we are aiming to secure a partner organisation by the summer of 2015, with a view to the new attraction being open in the summer of 2017.”