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You are here: Home > Winners > Case Studies

• Reaping the benefits of a Green Flag Award

• Date:

  29th October 2007

• Contact:

  Sarah Egerton

• Organisation:

  The Civic Trust

Ham Hill Country Park is a 400 acre site which includes a 200-acre Iron Age hill fort, Roman villa and Mediaeval villages found among a diverse range of habitats from native woodland to calcareous grassland. The unique geology gives Ham Hill its SSSI status, the Jurassic Shelley limestone, Hamstone, was first quarried on site by the Romans and still is today. The glorious views from the hillfort take in the Somerset levels, Exmoor and the Mendips.

Ham Hill is a real community site - people living in the low lying villages share a great sense of ownership and pride. The ranger team comprises practical conservation rangers as well as an education and access officer and the management of the park is reliant on positive community relationships. The Friends of Ham Hill group are greatly involved and a couple of years ago the rangers launched a volunteer ranger scheme which has since taken off , with a bunch of enthusiastic helping hands getting together one or twice a week to carry out a huge variety of tasks throughout the country park.

The site has being proudly flying a Green Flag since 2004. The council’s countryside manager Katy Menday says: “We entered the Green Flag scheme 3 years ago - admittedly we did not know a huge amount about the judging criteria, but we passed and everyone from directors to rangers were delighted.

“It gave the country park real importance within the suite of green spaces managed by the district council and the staff team took real pride in announcing the award. We knew the work we did was positive, but hoped that the judges would also recognise this. Justifying our park was always challenging, with no performance indicators linked directly to our work - having a Green Flag Award means we can prove we are a great park and that we have been measured against regulated standards.

“Benefits of the award have included increased community awareness of the site and the schemes that we organise to get people involved. Being able to use the Green Flag Award logo helps make people aware that we are a safe and accessible site.

“Visitors from further afield are more likely to visit us above another site when they see the Green Flag standard mark. We have secured significant grant income recently and I am sure the award has helped us gain these funds. The Civic Trust also offers a range of training sessions and case studies for officers, all which help give new ideas for ways to improve your park.”

http://www.southsomerset.gov.uk
Tel: 01935 823617