Council celebrates Green Flag awards

6.59.31pm BST (GMT +0100) Mon 23rd Jul 2007

Richmond Council is celebrating the award of Green Flag Status for two of its most popular parks and open spaces - Hatherop Park in Hampton and Twickenham Green. The Green Flag Award is the national standard for parks and green spaces in England and Wales. The award scheme began in 1996 as a means of recognising the best green spaces in the country. The awards follow on from the results of a national survey, Best Value Performance Indicators (BVPI), published at the end of last year which showed that resident satisfaction with parks and open spaces in Richmond upon Thames at 93% was the highest in the country. Speaking about the two awards, Cabinet Member for Environment on Richmond Council, Martin Elengorn said:

"I am delighted with these awards. We probably have the best parks and open spaces in the country. Our residents seem to think so as was borne out when they gave the highest approval rating in the country during the national survey of satisfaction with council services that was carried out last autumn. The Green Flag Awards are important. They do require a lot of hard work to achieve but they are independent verification that we are doing our job properly. How we maintain our open spaces is fundamental to preserving the character our borough - probably the greenest and most beautiful in London. A lot of people have worked hard to get this recognition. In particular I would like to thank the Friends of Twickenham Green and the Friends of Hatherop Park, Our contractor Veolia Limited and of course our own Parks and Open Spaces Team without whose dedication we simply would not have these awards. Congratulations and thank you all."