23 parks and open space areas in New Zealand receive Green Flag Awards

The New Zealand Recreation Association (NZRA) has announced that 23 parks and open space areas have received Green Flag Awards this year.

The Green Flag Award® scheme recognises and rewards well managed parks and green spaces, setting the benchmark standard for the management of recreational outdoor spaces around the world.

This year has also seen the award of the first ever Green Flag Community Awards in New Zealand.

The Community Award is given to sites that are welcoming, healthy, safe and secure. They must be well-maintained and clean with a strong environmental management plan.

The judges look at how natural features are identified on site and how well the site relates to and encompasses the local and wider community.

The Community Award winners are Randwick Park and Te Mata Park.

Randwick Park in South Auckland is a New Zealand success story – an example of how a community, if properly enabled, can come together and help design and drive forward projects that have the potential to inspire and unify the people around them.

The park was co-designed by local skater Walz Brown, who was invited by community leader David Tims to work alongside Isthmus over the course of a year. Under Walz’s guidance and influence, Randwick’s youth owned the design. With the kids engaged the parents followed enthusiastically; and through their involvement they became connected to active community support groups, forming connections that they would not have otherwise.

Te Mata Park and its famous Peak is one of the most loved and visited places in Hawke’s Bay. It was gifted in perpetuity to the community in 1927 and managed by a small group of volunteer trustees, with appreciated help from local councils and the community, the 99 hectare Park is a recreational, historical and cultural treasure.

Enjoyed by nearly a million people annually, the park offers visitors stunning and varied scenery, unique topography, geology, flora and fauna and a wide range of recreational activities.

Click here for more information at www.greenflagaward.org.uk/award-winners/#newzealand