Green Flag Award - Winners

A ‘Flagship’ park for Bury
Date:
7th December 2005
Contact:
Sarah Egerton
Organisation:
The Civic Trust

The management plan is the crux of any application for a Green Flag Award. This essential document must be site specific and a working tool for the management and development of the park. It is shared by staff at all levels as well as different park user groups and external partners, meaning it is a well-thumbed document, as opposed to an immaculate publication filed away and forgotten about.

When Green Flag Award judges visited Close Park in Bury last year, they praised the management plan as ‘exemplary’ and ‘exceptionally well presented without any ‘fluff.’ These comments were reflected in the park’s outstanding score of 90% as judges highly commended this ‘flagship site.’

This was Close Park’s second Green Flag Award. It also gained an award the previous year on entering the scheme with a fantastic score of 81%. Despite this, management did not rest on their laurels, instead taking the feedback of judges and integrating it into the natural evolution of the management plan, helping to boost the site into the highest echelon of the scheme this year.

Mike Bent, Parks and Open Spaces Officer at Bury Metropolitan Borough Council, says the site’s management plan is the culmination of input from a multitude of people and agencies. Its initial form was taken from a working plan of another park. This was followed by a weeks worth of consultation by a group of council officers which shaped the management plan into a format to show the friends of the park – which was when it really began to take shape.

Mike says: “Since then the plan has been influenced in so many ways. The main focus of the management plan is the friends group and local community groups that back onto the park, who get a chance to comment on the plan year on year.

“Then as we annually apply for a Green Flag Award, the judges’ comments have a bearing on how we improve it for the next years round of judging. Input also comes from officers within the team as they are consulted on the action plan as to completed work and forthcoming work.”

Mike writes all management plans for Bury’s green spaces alongside Anna Forster, Bury’s External Funding and Projects Officer. “I keep a tight reign on timescales and format of the plan and also consult various people as and when necessary.”

The format for Close Park’s management plan was derived from Cabe Space publication ‘A guide to producing park and Green Space management plans’ and is made up of the guide’s four sections incorporating Green Flag Award criteria into each section.

The format is laid out below:

1. Where are we now?
• Title Page and Site Plan
• Description
• Management Structure
• History
• Policy Context

2. Where do we want to get to?
• Vision
• SWOT
• Aims/Objectives

3. How will we get there?
• Action/Development Plan

4. How will we know when we’ve arrived?
• Achievements
• Green Flag Judges Feedback Reports
• Survey Results

Bury’s green spaces also received a major boost with the introduction of an Urban Park Rangers Service launched in 2004. On beginning their new roles, each ranger, who has responsibility for one or two parks, were asked to research the history of their sites to give them an idea of the park’s changes and evolution through the years.

Download A guide to producing park and Green Space Management Plans from: http://www.cabespace.org.uk/publications

For a copy of Raising the Standard, go to the Manual section of the website

A ‘Flagship’ park for Bury

Winners in your region