Green Flag recognition for The People’s Park

It is one of five parks and open spaces in the Mid & East Antrim borough and one of 84 province-wide to do so for 2021.

And, this year, Cullybackey Community Partnership also picked up a Green Flag Community Award for their management of Shellinghill park and Millennium Path in the village.

Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful, the environmental charity that runs the international awards locally, revealed a list of old favourites and new entrants, reflecting the many types of open spaces that are used and cherished by local communities.

The Green Flag Award is an internationally recognised certification for environmental quality management for parks and open spaces and is increasingly sought after in Northern Ireland, with a 27-fold increase in participants since the local programme opened in 2008.

Eighteen parks and open spaces attained Green Flag Awards in the neighbouring borough of Antrim & Newtownabbey.

These included Antrim Castle Gardens (Special Green Flag Heritage Award). Antrim Loughshore and Gateway and Randalstown Riverside Walk.

Rachel Vaughan, who manages the Green Flag Awards programme, said she hoped people would use the awards as an incentive to visit some new places and pointed out that all Green Flag spaces are free to visit.

She said: “When you visit a Green Flag park or open space you can be reassured that the location is being managed to a really high standard as they’ve been through a rigorous judging process that assesses sites across a range of issues including their horticultural standards, cleanliness, biodiversity and safety.”