IN A record-breaking year for the Green Flag Awards, two Darlington parks are among 2127 celebrating success as the scheme marks its Silver Jubilee.
Darlington Borough Council is raising two Green Flag Awards at South Park and West Park.
The award is the international quality mark for parks and green spaces. Councillor Andy Keir, Darlington Borough Council’s cabinet member for local services, said: “We’re delighted that South Park and West Park have once again received the Green Flag Award which recognises the hard work of our parks’ staff and the many volunteers who help look after them.
“Our parks and green spaces have proved even more important in recent months and I want to say a special thank you to everyone who has contributed to help keep South Park and West Park, as well as others, looking good and accessible to all.”
Read more: Darlington parkrun returns to South Park
Since the start of the pandemic, parks and green spaces have played a vital role for people through lockdowns as a place to relax, exercise, and meet friends and family safely.
Green Flag Award Scheme Manager, Paul Todd said: “I would like to congratulate everyone involved in making Darlington’s South Park and West Park worthy of Green Flag Awards.
“To meet the requirements demanded by the scheme is testament to the hard work of the staff and volunteers who do so much to ensure that Darlington’s parks have high standards of horticulture, safety and environmental management and is a place that supports people to live healthy lives.”
Read more: Two parks and a cemetary in Darlington make it onto Green Flag Award list
South Park was the first park in Darlington, laid out in 1851, and this year marks its 15th year as a Green Flag Award winner. It is also Grade II listed with Historic England.
Officially opened in 2005, West Park was the first new park in Darlington in 100 years and this is its seventh Green Flag Award. It is a modern park with a mix of art and wild open space. There are stone sculptures and poetry that are integrated with the natural beauty of the wildflower meadows, woods and wetlands.
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 green spaces across the United Kingdom and around the world.
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