Date:
4th November 2004Contact:
Sarah EgertonOrganisation:
The Civic Trust
Seven of England’s parks are celebrating today, after being recognised as the country’s best parks, with particular emphasis on heritage conservation. All seven have received a Green Flag Award 2005 and also achieved Green Heritage Site accreditation.
Green Heritage Site accreditation – now in its second year - is sponsored by English Heritage to promote best practice in the understanding, care, upkeep and promotion of parks and green spaces in England that are of heritage interest. The Green Flag Award is the national standard for parks and green spaces.
The seven winners are:
Epping Forest, managed by the Corporation of London, the Conservators of the Forest since 1878. There are 55,000 veteran trees here, Iron-Age earthworks and a hunting lodge built for Henry VIII.
Trinity Square Gardens in central London, the former public scaffold site for the Tower of London, is an archaeologically rich site with World War I and II memorials, overlooking the Tower of London World Heritage Site.
Egremont Castle & Grounds in Copeland, which has an enthusiastic Friends group as well as strong links with local schools, which were involved in designing and planting the heritage-themed floral beds.
Tatton Park near Knutsford in Cheshire is a registered museum, includes a Scheduled Ancient Monument, 25 listed structures and a Site of Special Scientific Interest – and has recently restored Japanese and kitchen gardens.
Castle Park in Colchester covers a tenth of the area of the old Roman town, and includes a Norman castle built on the foundations of the former Roman temple of Claudius – and with the largest keep the Normans ever built in Europe.
Dane John Gardens in Canterbury, enclosed by the city wall, has been an open space inside the city for over 600 years, and was fully restored thanks to lottery funding in the late 1990s.
Wellington Park in Taunton is an Edwardian park, gifted to the town in 1903, with many original design features including the tree-lined avenue, pond & rock garden preserved.
Paul Todd, Green Flag Award Manager at The Civic Trust said, “Good green spaces increase the quality of peoples’ lives, and form part of the heritage and culture of local communities. A good park is a place to play, to meet, to learn, to relax - and the perfect place to incorporate exercise into a busy lifestyle. Above all, it is a focal point, bringing the community together like nothing else can. Everyone involved should be extremely proud of their hard work and they should fly the flag with pride.”
John Watkins, Head of Gardens and Landscapes at English Heritage, said: “Green Heritage Site Accreditation shows an awareness and understanding of the contribution the past makes to the present-day use of a park, and of how much the historic environment is valued by the community. Historic open spaces provide continuity and familiarity, a focus for community events, a resource for learning and engender civic pride. Receiving Green Heritage Site status is an excellent way to help generate community interest in a site’s local heritage and to show that it has a long-term future.”
Green Heritage Site accreditation is judged on the understanding of a site’s heritage, the treatment of historic features and standard of conservation, and how the historic and heritage value is celebrated and promoted via local events and outreach. Sites must be at least 30 years old, and must first pass the judging criteria for the Green Flag Award before being considered. There are eight criteria which Green Flag Award judges assess – a welcoming place; healthy, safe and secure; well maintained and clean; sustainability; conservation and heritage; community involvement; marketing; and management.
NOTES TO EDITORS Contact Laura Sangster , 020 7170 4295. Background information Any green space in England and Wales that is freely accessible to the public is eligible to enter for a Green Flag Award. Awards are given on an annual basis and winners must apply each year to renew their Green Flag status. Sites are judged in May or June each year and the winners are announced in November. Winners fly their Green Flag throughout the next calendar year. The 2004 Green Flag Award winners will therefore be flying their flags throughout 2005. Green Heritage Site accreditation is judged on the treatment of the site’s historic features and the standard of conservation. A site must first pass the judging criteria for the Green Flag Award before being considered (though sites can apply for both in the same year). Organisations The Civic Trust is an independent, national charity, founded in 1957. It works with people to promote thriving towns and villages, developing partnerships between communities, government and business to deliver regeneration and local improvement. It is the umbrella body for 850 civic societies across the country, representing over 250,000 individuals committed to improving and caring for places where people live and work. http://www.civictrust.org.uk or contact Laura Sangster on: 0207 170 4295, English Heritage is the Government’s statutory adviser on the historic environment. It is an Executive non-departmental Public Body sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). Its powers and responsibilities are set out in the National Heritage Act (1983) and today we report to Parliament through the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. It also works closely with the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, which is responsible for planning, housing, regeneration and the constitutional framework within which most decisions affecting the historic environment are made. Tel 0207 973 3252,
East Midlands (56)Eastern (55)Greater London (151)North East (42)North West (196)South East (75)South West (52)West Midlands (42)Yorkshire & Humberside (45)Wales (19)Scotland (5)Northern Ireland (3)Republic of Ireland (1)Netherlands (2)Green Heritage Site Winners (42)Green Pennant Award Winners (73)Special Awards for Innovation Winners (7)
