Your parks and green spaces need you
Andrew Stunell has announced that next year’s Green Flag Award application round is open, and urged groups that manage green spaces and parks…
Andrew Stunell has announced that next year’s Green Flag Award application round is open, and urged groups that manage green spaces and parks, including those managed and created by local communities, to step forward.
The Communities Minister also said that the scheme, which has continued to raise the standard of quality of green spaces since its start in 1996, has Government support to continue past 31 August 2012, the end of its current arrangement. Mr Stunell indicated the Government’s intention will be to advertise next year for an external group to run the Green Flag Award scheme under license from 1 September 2012, and to invite bids. Details of the license offer will be available in February next year.
Andrew Stunell said:
The Green Flag Award scheme continues to recognise the importance of our green spaces and the efforts of those who look after them. 2010/11 was the best year yet for the number of awards and long may this continue.
The scheme has just had its most successful year, with 1,290 green spaces receiving an award and raising the standard: www.keepbritaintidy.org/GreenFlag/News/Default.aspx?newsID=7712 (external link). The Green Flag Community Award category, which recognises those spaces run by voluntary and community groups, saw a 13 per cent increase in winning entries.
The Green Flag Award is the national standard for public green space, currently used by 77 per cent of local authorities for green space management. The awards are increasingly being used by communities to maintain and improve the quality of precious green spaces such as parks, community gardens, woodlands, and allotments.
Further details about the Green Flag Award scheme and the application round for 2012/2013 can be found at www.keepbritaintidy.org/GreenFlag/Awards/GreenFlag/Default.aspx (external link).
Information requests on the future of the scheme should be directed to jonathon.cartwright@communities.gsi.gov.uk.