Buckinghamshire celebrates retaining six Green Flag Awards for parks

Environment
Celebrating last year’s Green Flag award at The Rye in High Wycombe which has been retained this year, Contracts Manager Andy Sherwood and Cabinet Member for Culture & Leisure, Clive Harriss.

Buckinghamshire Council is proud to announce it has retained its Green Flag Awards for six parks across the county.

The six award winning parks are: The Rye and Hughenden Park in High Wycombe, Higginson Park in Marlow, Vale Park and Bedgrove Park in Aylesbury and Heartlands in Buckingham.

Since the pandemic, parks and open spaces have taken on even greater significance in local communities. Research carried out by YouGov over the summer shows just how important parks are to the British public. It reveals that having access to a quality park or green space helped improve people’s mental health with almost six in ten (59%) saying they felt less stressed when using the park and 55% saying they felt more positive in general.

The Green Flag award scheme, now in its 25th year, is run by the environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy, under licence from the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. The award stands as an internationally recognised quality marker. Strict judging criteria is used to assess if a park or green space is worthy of being awarded a Green Flag. The judging panel considers a range of areas including:

  • A welcoming place
  • Healthy, safe and secure
  • Well maintained and clean
  • Environmental management
  • Biodiversity, landscape and heritage
  • Community involvement
  • Marketing and communication
  • Overall management

Speaking after the announcement, Clive Harriss, Cabinet Member for Culture and Leisure said: “Parks and open spaces have always been significant but over the past 18 months in particular, we have come to truly appreciate their importance for both our mental and physical health. The pandemic has helped us appreciate how vital it is to have access to outside areas to enjoy some leisure time and exercise and appreciate the joy of our natural environment.

“I am delighted that we have retained our Green Flag awards and would like to thank all our council staff as well as the many voluntary groups and individuals who support their local parks, for their hard work in helping to keep them in such good condition for the whole community to enjoy.

Buckinghamshire’s six parks were amongst 2127 parks and green spaces to win a coveted Green Flag Award this year.

Commenting on the announcement of this year’s winners, Keep Britain Tidy Chief Executive Allison Ogden-Newton OBE said: “As Green Flag Award celebrates 25 years of raising the standard, Keep Britain Tidy is delighted to be the custodian of a scheme that does so much to ensure our parks and green spaces go from strength to strength.

“At a time when parks have been at the heart of every community across the country it is perhaps not surprising that 95% of the public thinks that their local parks and green spaces need to be protected.

“This is why the Green Flag Award is so important. It ensures that parks and green spaces are managed to the highest standards and are safe and accessible for everyone to enjoy and we look forward to the next 25 years.”

Further information on parks and green spaces that are managed and maintained by Buckinghamshire can be found on our website.