Hackney awarded highest-ever number of Green Flags
Nineteen! That is the incredible number of Green Flags that Hackney now boasts, its highest-ever total, thanks to the hard work of the Council’s parks and green spaces team and the local community.
Millfields Park, in Clapton, and West Hackney Recreation Ground, in Stoke Newington, were the latest recipients on Thursday of the UK’s top parks and green spaces award.
The play area in Millfields, which borders the Lea Navigation, has recently been refurbished, whilst its pathways and entrances are being improved, as part of a £700,000 revamp by the Council.
Meanwhile, West Hackney Recreation Ground, which adjoins St Paul’s Church in Stoke Newington Road, underwent a major facelift last year, which saw new pathways, woodland and play features, conservation of tombstones and headstones, and improvements to the front of the church.
The Green Flag Awards mean they are now officially some of the best green spaces in Britain after both earned the national benchmark for the first time, and join 17 other green spaces in Hackney which have kept their Green Flags. Hackney now has the fourth-highest number of Green Flags in London.
The Council’s green-fingered staff are responsible for managing and maintaining 58 sites across the borough, including major green spaces like Hackney Marshes and Clissold Park.
These Green Flags demonstrate the hard work and dedication that the Council’s Parks and Green Spaces Service, in partnership with the local community, put into making our borough clean, green, safe and welcoming.
The awards are the end result of many hundreds of hours of hard work and celebrate the pride and enthusiasm which staff put into their jobs.
Since 2010, the Council has invested around £22 million into its parks, with a further £8 million planned to take place over the next few years.
Paul Todd, International Green Flag Manager, said: “All the flags flying this year are a testament to the efforts of the thousands of men and women, both staff and volunteers, who work tirelessly to maintain the high standards demanded by the Green Flag Award.”
The full list of Hackney’s Green Flag parks is:
Albion Square, N1
Aske Gardens, E8
Butterfield Green, N16
Cassland Road Gardens, E9
Clapton Pond, E5
Clapton Square, E5
Clissold Park, N16
De Beauvoir Square, N1
Hackney Downs, E5
Hackney Marshes, E9
Haggerston Park, E2
Hoxton Square, N1
London Fields, E8
Millfields Park, E8
Shoreditch Park, N1
Springfield Park, E5
St John's Churchyard Gardens, E5
Well Street Common, E9
West Hackney Recreation Ground, N16