Green Flags awarded to eight Cheshire East parks

Cheshire East Council’s parks are some of the very best in the UK – and that’s official!

The council has notched-up Green Flag awards for eight of its outstanding parks which is an important element of the council’s commitment to ‘quality of place’ for the region.

The awards are recognition of outstanding partnership working both with other local authorities and community groups.

A Green Flag community award recognises quality sites managed by voluntary and local community groups. Green Heritage site accreditation is judged on the treatment of the site’s historic features and the standard of conservation.

Tatton Park, in Knutsford, and Queens Park, in Crewe, also notched-up a Green Heritage Award each, with Tatton receiving both awards for the 15th year in a row.

These awards are only given to places that achieve a high standard in management and interpretation of a site with local or national historic importance.

Significant investment in our parks in recent years has led to the following parks being awarded Green Flag status: Bollington Recreation Ground; Brereton Heath Local Nature Reserve; Congleton Park, Queens Park; Sandbach Park; Tatton Park; Tegg’s Nose Country Park; and The Moor, in Knutsford.

Councillor Don Stockton, who has responsibility of green infrastructure, at Cheshire East Council, said: “It’s fantastic to see such a range of locations being recognised. We are so proud to have eight wonderful green spaces across Cheshire East for our residents to experience.

“We encourage our residents to head outdoors, explore their local area and find even more unexpected green spaces they can enjoy.

“This is deserved recognition for a lot of hard work and dedication, not just from our own teams at Cheshire East but also the army of volunteers and community groups that make achievements like this possible.

“The Green Flag is an international standard and the only national award for parks, so this is great praise for Cheshire East to be recognised in this fine way. It was particularly satisfying that Tatton Park in Knutsford has been successful in obtaining the Green Heritage Award for a 15th time, this year.”

Councillor John Hammond, chairman of Cheshire East’s wholly-owned company Ansa, which provides parks services for five of the parks, said: “Green Flag is a prestigious parks’ award, which benchmarks the national standard for parks and green spaces across the UK, so naturally, I am delighted with this accolade.

“All of these parks look beautiful, especially at this time of year and I must thank all our friends groups and partners working alongside Ansa parks teams for their outstanding efforts and contributions in helping to make this happen. We do hope residents will take time to visit and support their local parks.”

The Green Flag award is given to authorities that deliver a parks service to an international standard. All parks are measured on how well they are maintained and how sustainable they are, along with their contributions to conservation and heritage and how they are marketed and efficiently managed.