We’ve retained Green Flag Status at six Arun parks
Six parks and gardens in Arun have kept their prestigious Green Flag Awards.
This great news is the result of hours of hard work from the Council’s Greenspace Team and gardeners from the Council’s contractors, Tivoli Group Limited, working alongside a dedicated team of volunteers
Green Flags will continue to fly in Brookfield Park in Littlehampton – which achieved Green Flag status for the first-time last year - Mewsbrook Park and Norfolk Gardens also in Littlehampton, Old Rectory Gardens in Felpham, Marine Park Gardens in Aldwick and Hotham Park in Bognor Regis.
Councillor David Edwards, Chair of the Environment and Neighbourhood Services Committee at Arun District Council, thanked everyone involved in maintaining the award-winning parks, including the Council’s Greenspace Team, Friends of Brookfield Park, Friends of Old Rectory Gardens, Hotham Park Heritage Trust, Friends of Mewsbrook Park, East Beach Residents’ Association, Friends of Aldwick Parks, Hotham Park Miniature Railway and Littlehampton Miniature Railway.
Also highlighted for praise were the management at Hotham Park Café and Mewsbrook Park Café, who work with volunteers and Council officers to ensure the parks are the best they can be, along with contractors Tivoli Group Limited.
He added: “More than ever, we recognise the value of our green spaces in providing a place to escape to for exercise and relaxation, so we’re delighted that the hard work of our parks team and volunteers has been recognised yet again by this prestigious award.”
Research carried out by YouGov for Keep Britain Tidy 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 survey also showed that more than half of people (53%) visit a park or green space at least once a week and more than nine in ten (93%) think that parks and green spaces are important to their local community.
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.
The Green Flag Award scheme, managed by environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy under licence from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, recognises and rewards well-managed parks and green spaces, setting the benchmark standard for the management of recreational outdoor spaces across the United Kingdom and around the world.