Green flags for Sussex parks and gardens (From The Argus)

Green flags for Sussex parks and gardens

2:00pm Tuesday 17th July 2012 in News By Ben Parsons

Park keepers and community groups are celebrating after Sussex kept its Green Flag awards.

The scheme, run by the Keep Britain Tidy campaign, gave the prestigious accolades to 23 sites across the county.

Parks and gardens got the awards in Brighton, Hove, Worthing, Lewes, Eastbourne, Haywards Heath, Littlehampton, Bognor, Hastings, Crawley and Chichester.

Green Flag awards mirror the Blue Flags given to beaches to rate high-quality, well-managed green spaces.

The county kept all of the flags awarded to it last year.

Stoneham Park, off Marmion Road, Hove, was not named on this year’s “interactive map” on the Keep Britain Tidy website – but only because of an error.

Councillor Anne Pissaridou, who sits as a Labour and Co-operative member for the ward, said: “I’m absolutely delighted we have the award.

“All the community have worked hard and the park keeper has put in a tremendous amount of work.”

The park is celebrating the start of the summer holidays with a School’s Out festival on Saturday. Its entrance is guarded by three wooden pigs, commemorating the fact that a pig farm once stood there.

Robin Edwards, of Buchan Country Park in Crawley, said the awards help inspire workers to keep standards high.

Ratings are made by formal judging and “mystery shopper” visits on alternative years.

He said: “It is a benchmark against other sites.

“It is a real motivator to keep it to the highest standard and once you’ve got it, you have got to keep it.”

East Beach Pond, on the Manhood peninsula to the south of Chichester, and Manor Green Park at Selsey, won community awards.