GREEN FLAG AWARD FOR THE CRICHTON
Green spaces in Dumfries and Galloway have scooped a Green Flag Award
Keep Scotland Beautiful celebrates sustainable and well managed parks and green spaces across Scotland
Environmental charity, Keep Scotland Beautiful, has announced that both The Crichton and Dock Park in Dumfries and Galloway have been presented with a Green Flag Award. The accolade acknowledges quality green open spaces across the country that help to boost our nation’s health and wellbeing.
The international Green Flag Award is administered in Scotland by Keep Scotland Beautiful and acts as a benchmark for recreational outdoor space. The award celebrates well maintained parks and greenspaces and supports the opportunities that they provide to enable exercise, improve mental wellbeing and provide safe areas for play – something that has been particularly important to everyone over the last couple of years. Across the UK 2,208 parks have achieved the award this year – with a growing number of them in Scotland.
Amongst the 2022 award winners are spaces managed by local authorities, community groups and various other organisations.
Jamie Ormiston, Beaches and Parks Officer at Keep Scotland Beautiful, commented: “I would like to congratulate all of Scotland’s award-winning parks. Receiving this prestigious international benchmark recognises all the hard work that has gone into maintaining and managing these precious green open spaces.
“As the only accreditation for park management of its kind in Scotland, we have supported local authority teams, land managers and communities across Scotland to drive up environmental standards at many of our parks and open spaces for residents and visitors alike.
“Parks attract a diverse range of visitors, all of whom look for different facilities and have different expectations. The Green Flag Award, and the collective expertise of managers and communities across Scotland, drives improvements through a framework which supports the management of our environment, our wildlife and the people who visit.
“Scotland’s parks and open spaces attract thousands of visitors every year and I’d encourage everyone to #RespectProtectEnjoy them this summer.”
Chairperson of Dumfries and Galloway Council’s Communities Committee, Cllr Archie Dryburgh and Vice Chair Cllr John Campbell, said: “We’re absolutely thrilled that Dock Park has again been recognised by Keep Scotland Beautiful and are proud to hang the Green Flag on the Dock Park flag pole. Our Council continue to invest in parks across the region, and we have a great selection of open spaces for locals and visitors alike to explore. Dock Park continues to prove a popular destination for children to play. Thanks to Keep Scotland Beautiful for once again recognising Dock Park in their green flag awards.”
Gwilym Gibbons, Chief Executive of The Crichton Trust said: “We are grateful and delighted to receive Green Flag accreditation from Keep Scotland Beautiful this year. The Crichton is a beautiful and much-loved 85-acre parkland estate in Dumfries and as custodians of the estate, we are very proud and honoured to fly the Green Flag on site.
“I would like to take this opportunity to thank colleagues for their dedication to The Crichton and for their part in achieving this award. It is also important that we also acknowledge the vision and expertise of all those who created, respected and developed The Crichton in years gone by. Thanks to them, The Crichton has an established reputation as a place for healing and wellbeing and to this day, and further highlighted by pandemic, locals and visitors truly appreciate, value and benefit from our green spaces. While we have much to celebrate, we also recognise that in order to preserve the legacy of The Crichton for others to enjoy in the future, we still have much more to do. As a natural fit with our strategic aims, we are fully committed to using the Green Flag framework to help us connect people, place and the past to shape the future.”
A detailed map of Scotland’s Green Flag sites can be found at: www.keepscotlandbeautiful.org/parks
