Green Flag Award for third consecutive year
Kearsney Abbey and Russell Gardens in Dover are celebrating after receiving a Green Flag Award for the third consecutive year. The parks have met the quality standard every year since the completion in 2021 of a £3.1m ‘Parks for People’ project with the National Lottery Heritage and Community Funds.
The Green Flag Award is the international quality mark for parks and green spaces and recognises the hard work and dedication of a team of Dover District Council (DDC) staff and volunteers that maintain the parks as high-quality community green spaces and a haven for wildlife.
Cllr Charlotte Zosseder, DDC Cabinet Member for community and corporate property, said: “Kearsney Abbey and Russell Gardens are two of the district’s most popular public parks, loved by generations of local families and visitors from further afield.
“The Green Flag Award recognises the contributions of everyone who makes the parks such an important community asset, from DDC staff and volunteers to the thousands of visitors annually who help us keep the parks clean and tidy.”
Plans for future development of the parks include a tree trail, play area improvements, and a wedding venue in the Grade II Listed Billiards Room in Kearsney Abbey.
The Samphire Hoe nature reserve and country park managed by the White Cliffs Countryside Partnership based at DDC, was awarded its 18th Green Flag.
Keep Britain Tidy’s Accreditation Manager Paul Todd said: “I would like to congratulate everyone involved in making the parks worthy of a Green Flag Award.
“Kearsney Abbey and Russell Gardens are vital green spaces for the community in Dover, the district, and the wider area. This award is testament to all the hard work of staff and volunteers, who do so much to ensure that it maintains the high standards demanded by the Green Flag Award.”
The Green Flag Award scheme, managed by environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy under licence from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, recognises and rewards well-managed parks and green spaces, setting the benchmark standard for the management of green spaces across the United Kingdom and around the world.
Notes to editors:
About the Kearsney Parks
Kearsney Abbey is laid out in an informal style of open parkland and lakes, popular with families. The park as it exists today can be attributed to John Minet Fector, a local banker and merchant, who built a grand mansion on the site between 1820-1822.
Russell Gardens is Grade II Listed in the English Heritage Register of Parks & Gardens of Special Historic Interest. It is laid out in a formal style to the design of Thomas H Mawson (1861-1933), the renowned Edwardian landscape architect and exponent of the Arts and Crafts Movement.
About Keep Britain Tidy
Keep Britain Tidy is a leading environmental charity. It sets the standard for the management of parks and beaches, inspires people to be litter-free, to waste less and live more sustainably. It runs campaigns and programmes including the Great British Spring Clean, Eco-Schools, Love Parks, the Green Flag Award for parks and green spaces and the Blue Flag/ Seaside Awards for beaches. To find out more about Keep Britain Tidy, its campaigns and programmes visit www.keepbritaintidy.org.
Any green space that is freely accessible to the public is eligible to enter for a Green Flag Award. Awards are given on an annual basis and winners must apply each year to renew their Green Flag Award status. A Green Flag Community Award recognises quality sites managed by voluntary and community groups. Green Heritage Site Accreditation is judged on the treatment of the site’s historic features and the standard of conservation.
Posted on 19 July 2023