Gedling Country Park, Arnot Hill Park, Burton Road Jubilee Park and for the second year, Bestwood Country Park, joined a record number of parks and green spaces collecting a Green Flag Award – the international quality mark for parks and green spaces.

Arnot Hill Park retains the award for the 15th consecutive year, Gedling Country Park for the 6th year in a row, Burton Road Jubilee received the award for the sixth time and Bestwood Country Park has received the award for the second year in a row since the management of the park was taken over by Gedling Borough Council.
The four parks in Gedling Borough join over 2,000 sites across the country in collecting the award for 2021.
The Green Flag Award scheme, managed by environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy under licence from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, 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.

Green Flag Award Scheme Manager, Paul Todd said: “I would like to congratulate everyone involved in making these sites worthy of a Green Flag Award. To meet the requirements demanded by the scheme is testament to the hard work of the staff and volunteers who do so much to ensure that these areas have high standards of horticulture, safety and environmental management and that they are places that support people to live healthy lives.”
Councillor Peter Barnes, Portfolio Holder for Environment said: “Over the last 20 months, our parks and open spaces have played a vital part in the health and wellbeing of our residents as, for a long time, they were one of the only places people could go to enjoy exercise and to meet friends and family. We have seen unprecedented demand on our four main parks and we are delighted that Keep Britain Tidy has recognised the value of all four and awarded us with the Green Flag Award.

We work very hard every year to meet the standards and criteria set by the awards so I would like to thank our hard working parks and open spaces staff for their dedication. We know residents of Gedling are very proud of our parks, and this achievement goes to show what wonderful spaces we have in the borough.”

Councillor John Cottee, Chairman of Communities Committee at Nottinghamshire County Council, said:
“It is great news that Bestwood Country Park has been recognised by the Green Flag Award scheme. We are committed to ensuring that everyone is able to enjoy our country parks, come rain or shine. I would like to congratulate, and thank, all of our partners, staff and volunteers who put so much time and care in to this fantastic green space. Throughout all the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic, parks like Bestwood have provided Nottinghamshire residents with an opportunity to exercise, socialise and come together as a community safely.”