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• The scheme’s judges are now embarking on the assessment of more than 500 green spaces across Engla

• Date:

  25th May 2006

• Contact:

  Sarah Egerton

• Organisation:

  The Civic Trust

The new comprehensive training programme, delivered by the Civic Trust, Community First Partnership and a team of experienced judges as trainers, has been developed in the wake of a sustained and predicted growth of the scheme. Judges were required to complete a home based exercise in advance of a full days training incorporating workshops based on elements of judging criteria and an onsite mock assessment of a green space. A total of 368 judges have now been trained and out of the 360 who submitted feedback forms, 98% expressed complete satisfaction of the level of information provided on the day. Community First Partnership Director Ian Baggott, himself a Green Flag Award judge since 1997, explained: “The new training programme has gone very smoothly indeed, with positive reports from all those who took part. Those judges are now going out to assess this year’s applications for a Green Flag Award and are more confident of doing a great job. The fact that the new programme was so successful is down to the experienced judges who lead the training itself.” Applications manager Paul Todd said: “Our judges are the backbone of the Green Flag Award, bringing a professionalism and experience to the scheme which cannot be replaced. The new training programme builds on that wealth of experience in supporting an award scheme which is constantly raising the standard of our nation’s parks and green spaces.” The assessment of 529 applications for a Green Flag Award will be taking place throughout May and June to find out who will make the Green Flag Award grade for 2006/7. The beady-eyed judges will be assessing each site against eight criteria. They will be looking for: • A welcoming place • How does the site tackle health, safety and security issues? • Is it clean and well maintained? • Does it follow sustainable practices? • What steps are taken to preserve conservation and heritage? • How is the local community involved? • How well does it market itself? • How effective is the site’s management plan? Winners will be announced and awarded the coveted Green Flag in the summer during a special awards ceremony celebrating the scheme’s 10th anniversary at a venue yet to be named.