Park success flags up green capital status
FLORA BYATT
HYNDBURN has been hailed the Green Flag capital of Lancashire - after a ninth park in the borough received the award.
For Rhyddings Park in Oswaldtwistle, the honour is swift recognition less than two months after it officially reopened following a £2m facelift.
The revamp was funded by a Heritage Lottery Grant and created by the work of numerous groups including Friends of Rhyddings Park.
In the first week of opening, around 600 people visited the new cafe in the Coach House.
The park is Hyndburn’s ninth Green Flag space, making Hyndburn the borough with the most in the county.
The other spaces given the award are: Lowerfold Park, Cutwood Park, Oakhill Park, Mercer Park, Gatty
Park and Peel Park, Accrington Cemetery and Crematorium, and Wilson Playing Fields and Woodlands.
The award is given to parks or green spaces that have high environmental standards, are well-maintained and have good visitor facilities.
Coun Paul Cox, Hyndburn council’s cabinet member for parks and open spaces, said: “We are absolutely delighted to receive a Green Flag Award in Rhyddings Park for the first time, bringing the total Green Flags in Hyndburn up to nine.
“All this is only made possible by the hard work and dedication of the many staff and community groups who have worked long and hard to achieve them.
“We are blessed here in Hyndburn to have many community groups who give their time and energy so freely.
“Our newest Green Flag Park, Rhyddings in Oswaldtwistle, is typical of this, with a fantastic friends group who have got the park buzzing with activity and visitors and who have the ethos that it’s a park run by the community, for the community.”
Ann Warrington, who chairs the Friends of Rhyddings Park, said: “It means so much to us to get the Green Flag Award for Rhyddings, it’s the result of a lot of hard work of a lot of people. A huge thank you to everyone involved.”