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A once congested concrete London throughfare is among sites preparing to raise the prestigious Green Flag Award after a £22m landscaping and pedestrianisation scheme

A record-breaking 2,250 parks and green spaces across the UK have reached the high standards required to receive a coveted Green Flag Award in 2025. 

Environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy today revealed the winners, with successful submissions from across the country for a range of sites including world-famous city parks and small, local green spaces. 

The Green Flag Award is the international mark of a quality park or green space, providing the high standards against which sites are measured, and which land managers, local authorities and volunteers pledge to achieve when applying for the award. 

The scheme was launched 29 years ago, with the first awards given a year later, to recognise and reward the best green spaces in the country. 

Strand Aldwych – maintained by Krinkels UK, working with Westminster City Council – has received this year’s award after part of the major city centre road – one of London’s most congested areas – was transformed into a pedestrian friendly zone with environmental benefits such as biodiverse planting and spaces for relaxation and social interaction. 

Green spaces around city centres can help mitigate the effects of pollution and provide residents, visitors and workers with places to relax, unwind, and connect with nature. 

In this case, part of the major road was blocked off, and traffic diverted, to allow redevelopment and landscaping, including flowerbeds and trees. 

Among other winners this year are: 

• Whitworth Memorial Gardens – Rossendale Borough Council
• East Herringthorpe Crematorium and Cemetery – Dignity Plc working with Rotherham Council
• West Smethwick Park – Sandwell Borough Council
• Radipole Park & Gardens – Weymouth Town Council 

In addition, 138 of the winners have received a Green Heritage Site Accreditation for the management of historic features, supported in England by Historic England. 

These include: 

• St James’s Park and The Green Park – The Royal Parks 
• Saltwell Park – Gateshead Council 
• Ampthill Great Park – Ampthill Town Council 

To achieve Green Heritage Site Accreditation, winners have to understand and take action to preserve the heritage value of their site. They also need to help people to understand and enjoy its unique history, from nationally important parks to local green spaces that help tell the story of places and communities. 

Several quality sites managed by voluntary and community groups were given a Green Flag Community Award including: 

• Redbourne St Andrews Churchyard – Redbourne Churchyard Companions 
• Stoney Hill Community Wildlife Area – Spotland Tenants and Residents Association 
• The Oval Bandstand and Lawns – GRASS Cliftonville CIC 

Parks are a vitally important part of this country’s green infrastructure, providing opportunities to improve physical and mental health even in the most built-up urban environments.  

That’s why it’s important that parks are managed to the Green Flag Award standard, which accredits and recognises sites that meet the needs of the community, are well-maintained, safe and provide people with the opportunity to lead healthy lifestyles. 

Congratulating this year’s winners, Keep Britain Tidy’s Chief Executive, Allison Ogden-Newton OBE, said: “We are thrilled to see that an incredible 2250 sites have met the standards required for a Green Flag Award, reflecting the tireless work of the people tasked with caring for and improving these crucial national assets. 

“Our quality parks and green spaces make the UK a heathier place in which to live and work, and a stronger place in which to invest.

“Through the Green Flag Award and our campaigning as a charity, we will continue to advocate for good quality green infrastructure that maximises benefits for people and nature, whether that’s through exercise and wellbeing, or playing a part in helping us mitigate and adapt to some of the effects of our changing climate.

“The Green Flag Award sets the standard for caring for these sites amid growing recognition that our green spaces can be part of the climate solution.

“We know that the plants and trees in parks help to mitigate the harmful carbon emissions that are driving climate change. They act as cooling havens as we face hotter, drier summers and play an important part in climate change adaptation and mitigation, including helping to reduce incidences of flooding.”

The charity believes the standards expected in the Green Flag Award should be a minimum for every park and aims for a significant increase in the number of sites achieving Green Flag Award status by 2030, so that people, wherever they live, can access and enjoy safe, high-quality green space.  

Erika Diaz Petersen, Historic England’s Principal National Landscape Adviser, said: “We congratulate this year’s winners for their achievements in reaching Green Flag Award standards for looking after our vital green infrastructure.  

“Heritage is at the heart of our green infrastructure networks, from public parks to our canal network, providing crucial benefits for people and nature, and a critical resource for climate resilience.

“Historic England is pleased to support Green Heritage Site Accreditation, which recognises the achievements of Green Flag Award winners who meet additional criteria and care for, share and celebrate the heritage of their sites.”

The Green Flag Award scheme is managed by Keep Britain Tidy under licence from the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government, setting the benchmark standard for the management of recreational outdoor spaces across the United Kingdom and around the world. 

A full list of Green Flag Award-winning parks and green spaces is available here.