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• Is your park one of the best?

• Date:

  3rd October 2005

• Contact:

  Sarah Egerton

• Organisation:

  The Civic Trust

Park managers and community groups were today called upon to apply for a Green Flag - the national award for England and Wales best green spaces. The Green Flag is an annual award scheme and is recognised as the national standard for high quality green spaces. The scheme is going from strength to strength since its humble beginnings in 1997 when seven Green Flags were awarded.

Currently a total of 322 sites are flying the flag after being recognised for their standards of park management and contribution to the quality of local life. In addition, 14 of those have Green Heritage Site Accreditation and 42 further community managed sites have a Green Pennant Award.

Parks and Public Space Minister, Kay Andrews, said:

“The Green Flag Award is the chance for managers across the country to show that their park is one of the best. We all know that good quality green space is a vital part of any community, providing a space where people can go to relax, play or exercise for free.

“Everyone should be able to enjoy well managed and well maintained green spaces. The Award makes it clear just how important this is. We’ve seen the number of winners increase from year to year - evidence of the ongoing renaissance of our parks - and the challenge is for others to make their green space a Green Flag winner.”

Paul Todd, who manages the scheme for the Civic Trust, said: “This is a fantastic way of recognising the rising standards of our parks and green spaces and their huge contribution to local quality of life.

“The scheme recognises and rewards those who have devoted much time and effort to providing these quality green spaces which are a key ingredient to revitalising our towns, cities and villages. It is a vital component of what the Civic Trust, with its diversity of programmes including the Civic Trust Awards, BizzFizz and work on the Evening Economy, is all about. Our network of 450 Green Flag Award judges, all green space professionals in their own right, and 250,000 Civic Society members, ensures continual progression towards the creation of cleaner, safer, greener communities for all.”

Applicants are judged against eight categories: welcoming place, health and safety, well maintained, sustainability, conservation and heritage, community involvement, marketing and management. The scheme is open to any parks or green spaces freely accessible to the public, ranging from allotments, nature reserves and crematoriums to large country parks hosting major events. 

Gaining an award is an excellent way to generate interest in a park or green space, bringing publicity at a local and national level and wide recognition for the hard work of staff and volunteers involved.

Park managers are invited to join the network of Green Flag Award winners across England and Wales, while at the same time, creating greener, thriving and more sustainable communities. For further information and an application form, visit the scheme’s dedicated website: http://www.greenflagaward.org.uk or email: The team can be contacted on: 0151 231 6900. All applications should be submitted by January 27 2006.