feature: Parks are better by the dozen
10 September 2008
A park in Seven Sisters has become the latest Haringey Council-run open space to be formally recognised as one of the best in the country. It means there are now 12 award-winning parks and open spaces in the borough for residents to enjoy.
The new Green Flag award for Chestnuts Park, N15, means your borough has more award-winning parks than virtually any other in London.
All eight of the council’s previous Green Flag parks also successfully regained the award this year.
On top of these, the Civic Trust also awarded Green Flag status to Highgate Wood (run by the Corporation of London), Alexandra Park (run by the Alexandra Palace Trust) and Tottenham Marshes (run by the Lea Valley Regional Park Authority).
Cabinet member for leisure, culture and lifelong learning Cllr Dhiren Basu said:
“This is fantastic news for everyone who lives in Haringey, and I hope it willencourage even more people to make regular use of our parks and open spaces.
“Top quality parks are an important part of our new Greenest Borough plans. We now want to achieve another three Green Flags for our parks and open spaces by 2010, and we’ll continue to invest heavily and work closely with our Friends groups to achieve that ambition.”
Chestnuts success
The Green Flag award for Chestnuts Park follows a major restoration programme funded by Haringey Council, The Bridge New Deal for Communities and the Lottery.
The improvement programme, agreed in consultation with the Friends of Chestnuts and local residents, has seen the creation of a new playground and multi-use games area for football, basketball and other sports, as well as a new café terrace and wildflower meadow.
The improvements were celebrated at a special community day at the park in May this year.
Award-winners
The Haringey-managed Green Flag parks are:
- Albert Road Recreation Ground, N22 (third year winner)
- Bruce Castle Park, N17 (sixth year winner)
- Chapmans Green, N22 (third year winner)
- Chestnuts Park, N15 (first year winner)
- Downhills Park, N15 (third year winner)
- Finsbury Park, N4 (second year winner)
- Priory Park, N8 (sixth year winner)
- Railway Field Local Nature Reserve, N4 (fifth year winner)
- Stationers Park, N8 (fifth year winner)
The Civic Trust also awarded three Green Pennants to community gardens in the borough. These were for The Gardens’ Community Garden, Doncaster Gardens, N4, and Bowes Park Community Garden, Myddleton Road, N22 – both previous award winners – and Mannock Road Allotment Community Project, N17, a first time winner.
You can find more information on Haringey’s parks and green spaces at www.haringey.gov.uk/greenspaces.
To find out more about your local park’s Friends Group, call Parks Customer Care on 020 8489 5662 or email parks@haringey.gov.uk.
You can also take online tours of four of Haringey’s Green Flag parks – Albert Road Recreation Ground, Finsbury Park, Bruce Castle Park and Priory Park – by visiting www.seeharingeyparks.org. You can access this site using the link in the Useful External links section.
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