Park in Heath and Reach raises prestigious Green Flag Award after achieving international quality mark for parks and green spaces

 

The Greensand Trust is celebrating after receiving a Green Flag Award for Rushmere Country Park near Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, for the fifth consecutive year.

 

The news that Rushmere Country Park has achieved the accreditation - the international quality mark for parks and green spaces - is testament to the hard work and dedication of the team that care for the green space so that visitors and residents alike can enjoy it.

 

Keep Britain Tidy’s Green Flag Award Scheme Manager, Paul Todd MBE, said: 

I would like to congratulate everyone involved at Rushmere Country Park on achieving a Green Flag Award. Rushmere Country Park is a vital green space for communities in the Leighton Buzzard area to socialise, enjoy nature, for children to play safely and it provides important opportunities for park users to improve their physical and mental health. We know that staff and volunteers work tirelessly to ensure that it maintains the high standards of the Green Flag Award, everyone involved should feel extremely proud of their achievement. It is important that our greenspaces are maintained to the Green Flag Award standard, making them accessible for all members of the community while ensuring the environment is protected.

 

The Green Flag Award scheme, managed by environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy under licence from the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government, recognises and rewards well-managed parks and green spaces, setting the benchmark standard for the management of green spaces across the United Kingdom and around the world.

 

Gill Welham, Chief Executive of The Greensand Trust which runs the park on a not for profit basis, said:

We’re delighted to have been awarded this prestigious accolade for the fifth year running and are grateful to our volunteers and staff at the park for their hard work.  It was particularly encouraging that the visiting judges commented that the park is good for all ages – they saw families with small children jumping in muddy puddles, birdwatchers, older people taking a leisurely walk and younger people using the cycle trail.