A number of parks and green spaces across Lancaster and Morecambe have received a coveted Green Flag Award for 2025.
Environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy today revealed the winners, with successful submissions from across the area for a range of local green spaces.
Lancaster Canal, operated by the Canal and River Trust, and Happy Mount Park, Regent Park, Ryelands Park, Torrisholme Cemetery and Williamson Park, all operated by Lancaster City Council, have been given a Green Flag Award.
The Green Flag Award is the benchmark international quality classification for parks and green spaces, providing the high standards against which sites are measured, and which land managers, local authorities and volunteers pledge to achieve when applying for the award.
The scheme was launched 29 years ago, with the first awards given a year later, to recognise and reward the best green spaces in the country.
In addition, Williamson Park has also received a Green Heritage Site Accreditation for the management of its historic features.
To achieve Green Heritage Site Accreditation, winners have to understand and take action to conserve the heritage value of their site. They also need to help people to understand and enjoy its unique history, from nationally important parks to local green spaces that help tell the story of places and communities.
Congratulating this year’s winners, Keep Britain Tidy’s Chief Executive, Allison Ogden-Newton OBE, said: “We are thrilled to see that an incredible 274 sites in the North West have met the standards required for a Green Flag Award, reflecting the tireless work of the people tasked with caring for and improving these crucial national assets.
“Our quality parks and green spaces make the UK a heathier place in which to live and work, and a stronger place in which to invest.
"Through the Green Flag Award and our campaigning as a charity, we will continue to advocate for good quality green infrastructure that maximises benefits for people and nature, whether that’s through exercise and wellbeing, or playing a part in helping us mitigate and adapt to some of the effects of our changing climate.
“The Green Flag Award sets the standard for caring for these sites amid growing recognition that our green spaces can be part of the climate solution.
Below: Happy Mount Park
“We know that the plants and trees in parks help to mitigate the harmful carbon emissions that are driving climate change. They act as cooling havens as we face hotter, drier summers and play an important part in climate change adaptation and mitigation, including helping to reduce incidences of flooding.”
Erika Diaz Petersen, Historic England’s Principal National Landscape Adviser, said: “We congratulate this year’s winners for their achievements in reaching Green Flag Award standards for looking after our vital green infrastructure.
“Heritage is at the heart of our green infrastructure networks, from public parks to our canal network, providing crucial benefits for people and nature, and a critical resource for climate resilience.''
Below: A stretch of the Lancaster Canal
“Historic England is pleased to support Green Heritage Site Accreditation, which recognises the achievements of Green Flag Award winners who meet additional criteria and care for, share and celebrate the heritage of their sites.”
The Green Flag Award scheme is managed by Keep Britain Tidy under licence from the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government, setting the benchmark standard for the management of recreational outdoor spaces across the United Kingdom and around the world.
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