Is Severn Valley Country Park the best in the UK?

The Green Flag Award scheme – the national standard for parks and green spaces – is urging everyone to show their support for their local park or green space as voting for the nation’s favourite park reaches the final stages.

The People’s Choice Award is an annual online vote that gives the public the power to decide which one of the 1,290 parks or green spaces flying the Green Flag Award or Community Award this year, should be named the site of the year.

Competition to reach the topspot is already hotting up, with over 4,500 votes cast already, so now is the time to ensure your local park or green space gets the recognition it deserves.

Simply visit www.greenflagaward.org.uk to register your vote.  Select your region on our interactive map, find your favourite park or green space and click the ‘vote for this site’ button.

Paul Todd, Green Flag Award scheme manager, said:

“We know how important having access to quality parks and green spaces is to the public.  The People’s Choice Award gives them the chance to decide which park or green space deserves the accolade of the nation’s favourite.

“With 1,290 award-winning sites to choose from competition is fierce so we urge everyone to get voting if they want to see their local park pick up the award.”

Councillor Steve Charmley, Cabinet member for active and healthy lifestyles, said:

“Severn Valley Country Park is managed by Shropshire Council’s outdoor recreation service.  We are very proud that the park has been awarded the Green Flag Award for the 8th year running.  The site is an extremely popular resource for local people as well as visitors to the county.  I would encourage everyone to vote online for Severn Valley Country Park to win the People’s Choice Award.”

Voting for the People’s Choice Award winner closes at midday on Monday 12 September 2011, and the winner will be announced on 21 September 2011.

• The Green Flag Award Scheme is managed by a consortium, comprising Keep Britain Tidy, BTCV and GreenSpace. Known collectively as the Green Flag Plus Partnership, the consortium manages the scheme in England on behalf of Communities and Local Government (CLG) and in Wales for the Welsh Steering Group.

• Green Flag Award recognises well managed, high quality green spaces.  Any green space is eligible to win this award providing visitors can enter free of charge.  Previous winners include parks managed by local authorities as well as those run by community groups and trusts.  The scheme was set up in 1996.

• In 2011 1,290 parks and green spaces have been awarded the Green Flag and Green Flag Community Award.

Green Flag’s vision is that by 2020, 50 per cent of green spaces in England and Wales will be of Green Flag standard – a staggering 15,000 sites.