38 Edinburgh parks presented with a Green Flag Award

Keep Scotland Beautiful celebrates sustainable and well managed parks across Scotland

Environmental charity, Keep Scotland Beautiful, has announced that 38 parks in Edinburgh 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 18 months. Over 2,000 parks across the world have achieved the award this year.

Amongst the 2021 award winners are spaces managed by local authorities, community groups and various other organisations including the NHS.

Amongst the 38 winning Edinburgh parks is the Royal Edinburgh Hospital run by NHS Lothian and Corstorphine Hill LNR Community Walled Garden run by Friends of Corstorphine Hill, whilst both Harrison Park and Braidburn Valley Park are celebrating their 15^th consecutive year of achieving the Green Flag Award.

Barry Fisher, Chief Executive of 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.

“Every single one of these parks provides an invaluable service to the local communities that it serves – from creating a safe space to play, to think, to work out – and they helped to address many of the health and wellbeing challenges we faced as a country during lockdown.”

“Spending time in nature can be good for people’s health and wellbeing, and merely living in a greener neighbourhood can be good for health. The Green Flag Award recognises the valuable, and tangible contribution that these parks make towards the nation’s well-being.”

Tracey McKagen, Services Director for the Royal Edinburgh Hospital and Associated Services in NHS Lothian, said: “I’m really delighted that our hospital has received this award as it shows how much work goes into looking after our beautiful greenspaces.

“These areas are very important to us in NHS Lothian as they enable both our staff and patients to connect with nature, which helps with mental and general wellbeing.

“This award was only possible with the support and contributions from the whole hospital community, so I would like to thank everyone involved for their ongoing hard work to support our natural areas. As the site evolves to meet future healthcare needs our greenspace management plan will ensue nature continues to be at the heart of the site.”

City of Edinburgh Council’s Culture and Communities Convener, Councillor Donald Wilson, said: We’re incredibly proud of our beautiful parks in Edinburgh and it’s wonderful that we’re once again the proud holders of more Green Flags than anywhere else in Scotland – more than half of the awards granted.

“Green Flags are given to those parks that give everyone access to a safe, clean and pleasant green space where they can relax, play and exercise and I’m delighted that so many of our parks have achieved this important and much sought-after recognition which is well deserved.

“Despite the challenging times we’re all still facing and with increased investment, the quality of Edinburgh’s parks continues to improve. I want to pay tribute to everyone, staff, friends of parks and volunteers, who work so hard all year round, and in all-weathers to keep our award-winning parks so beautiful.

“These public spaces have been a source of comfort, solace, fun and relaxation for residents over the difficult last 18 months and are essential to our wellbeing. There’s always more to discover, though, so I’d encourage everyone to get out and explore our parks this Autumn.”

Culture and Communities Vice Convener, Councillor Amy McNeese-Mechan, said: “This is fantastic news, parks have proved to be real havens in recent times and my thanks to our skilled and dedicated parks staff for their continued care and hard work.

“I also want to thank all our Friends of Parks groups for everything they do. The parks belong to the people of Edinburgh and we’re so grateful for the support from our citizens. Since we first started taking part in the Green Flag scheme in 2007, we’ve gone from just two flags to 38, which is more than half of all Green Flags given out in the whole country – this is a tremendous achievement and we’ll keep working hard to make sure our parks go from strength to strength.”