Fife's Parks Win Green Flag Awards Again

Four Kingdom parks retain their prestigious award for quality green spaces.

Silver Sands & Hawkcraig, Ravenscraig Park, Letham Glen and Beveridge Park have won the prestigious Green Flag Award for 2014.

The Green Flag Award is the benchmark for a quality green space, and is administered in Scotland by Keep Scotland Beautiful, the independent environmental charity.

Three of the four parks won the award for the first time in 2013 and their continuing excellence has allowed them to hold on to it.

Parks are assessed by volunteer judges who usually have a background in parks management, conservation or ecology. They judge against eight criteria testing whether the park or green space is: welcoming; healthy, safe and secure; clean and well-maintained; sustainable; manages conservation and heritage; has community involvement; markets itself, and has good management.

Derek Robertson, Chief Executive of Keep Scotland Beautiful, said:

"This is great news for Fife, with all the Kingdom's parks holding on to their Green Flags. All these parks make for a fantastic day out for all the family and they have worked hard to win their award.

"We're very proud of all of our award winners, and particularly of the army of local volunteers who work all year round in rain or shine to make Fife’s parks beautiful.

"All over Scotland people are caring for their towns, cities and green spaces. Whether it's through Green Flag or our other programmes such as Clean Up Scotland and Beautiful Scotland, local people are raising the bar and making their communities great places to live in."

Councillor Gavin Yates, Fife Council's Executive Spokesperson for Community Health and Wellbeing said:

"Fife has fantastic parks and green spaces and we're are delighted to have retained Green Flag recognition for two of our parks in Kirkcaldy as well as for Silver Sands & Hawcraigs and Letham Glen too. These awards are a great endorsement of the work of council staff and Friends groups across the Kingdom and I hope Fifers young and old will take a trip to appreciate some of our wonderful parks during the summer - weather permitting of course!"