International benchmark for quality!

Ten Southampton Parks have received Green Flag Awards.  

• Cedar Lodge Park – Southampton City Council 
• Freemantle Lake Park – Southampton City Council 
• Mansel Park – Southampton City Council 
• Mayfield Park – Southampton City Council 
• Millers Pond – Southampton City Council 
• Peartree Common LNR – Southampton City Council 
• Portswood Rec – Southampton City Council 
• Riverside Park – Southampton City Council 
• Southampton’s Central Parks – Southampton City Council 
• St James’ Park – Southampton City Council 
• Town Quay Park – Southampton City Council 

The Green Flag Award is the international benchmark for quality, recognising sites that meet rigorous standards for safety, accessibility, environmental management and community engagement. Keep Britain Tidy is calling on local authorities to prioritise investment in parks in areas of greatest deprivation and to use the Green Flag Award as a benchmark standard to drive improvement.

Evidence shows that parks are one of the most cost-effective public assets available; every £1 invested delivers more than £7 in wellbeing benefits. Yet, despite physical inactivity costing the UK £7.4 billion each year, investment in parks has accounted for less than three per cent of local authority budgets in recent years. 

However, people living in Britain’s most deprived communities are more than twice as likely to describe their local park as ‘unsafe’ compared to those in the most affluent areas, according to new research by environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy, published to mark the 30th anniversary of the Green Flag Award. 

The findings reveal a growing ‘Green Divide’ across Britain, with those who stand to benefit the most from access to safe green spaces the least likely to have them.  

The nationally representative YouGov survey of more than 2,000 adults found stark differences in the quality and safety of local green spaces between the richest and poorest areas in the country. 

199 parks and green spaces in the South East have reached the high standards required to receive a coveted Green Flag Award as environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy celebrates the 30th anniversary of the scheme. 

Sites across Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Surrey and West Sussex are among a record 2,391 UK sites celebrating their achievement, read more here: Keep Britain Tidy