The Green Flag Award is the benchmark national standard for parks and green spaces in the United Kingdom. The scheme was set up in 1996 to recognise and reward green spaces in England and Wales that met the laid down high standards. It is also seen as a way of encouraging others to achieve the same high environmental standards, creating a benchmark of excellence in recreational green areas. Any free to enter public park or green space is eligible to apply for an Award. The scheme is owned by the Government through the Department for Communities and Local Government, though it is managed by other agents under contract. A pilot scheme was started in 2007 in Scotland and three parks were given awards. Both primary and secondary schools may be awarded the Green Flag in recognition of steps taken towards making the school increasingly eco-friendly.
Parks and green spaces are judged in April and May each year and the winners are announced in July. Parks must apply each year to keep their Green Flag Award, and winning sites are eligible to fly a Green Flag in the park for a year.
Sites for a Green Flag Award are judged against eight key criteria:
- A welcoming place
- Healthy, safe and secure
- Clean and well maintained
- Sustainability
- Conservation and heritage
- Community involvement
- Marketing
- Management
Read more about Green Flag Award: Green Pennant Award, Green Heritage Site Accreditation, Green Flag and Social Housing, History and Management
Famous quotes containing the words green, flag and/or award:
“Of a green evening, clear and warm,
She bathed in her still garden, while
The red-eyed elders watching, felt
The basses of their beings throb
In witching chords, and their thin blood
Pulse pizzicati of Hosanna.”
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)
“Up rose old Barbara Frietchie then,
Bowed with her fourscore years and ten;
Bravest of all in Frederick town,
She took up the flag the men hauled down;”
—John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892)
“The award of a pure gold medal for poetry would flatter the recipient unduly: no poem ever attains such carat purity.”
—Robert Graves (1895–1985)