Groups flag up new bid for Green park

A BID for a Green Flag Award for a Rossendale park has been launched.

Rossendale council has approved the submission in January 2021 of an application for Green Flag status for Bacup’s Stubbylee and Moorlands Park, following the culmination of more than a decade of preparatory work.

A Green Flag Management Plan report was introduced to the December full council meeting, by the cabinet member for environment, Coun Adrian Lythgoe.

The Green Flag award is an accreditation scheme that recognises and rewards well managed parks and green spaces.

It raises the profile of green spaces by recognition of the value they have to the community and rewards the hard work that goes into them by employees and community groups.

Rossendale does not currently have a Green Flag park, but the council has made a commitment to apply for a Green Flag Award in 2021, with Stubbylee and Moorlands being chosen as the first park in Rossendale to be entered for the award.

The Management Plan report stated that it was intended to use the Stubbylee and Moorlands bid ‘as a template for rolling out to other parks as resources allow’.

The Stubbylee Masterplan Group was formed in 2012. The steering group looked for sources of funding in order to deliver the projects identified by residents.

This model has since been rolled out in 2020 to Edgeside Park in Waterfoot.