Fife’s green spaces are keeping the flag flying above the kingdom.
Seven Fife Council parks have been given Green Flag awards by Keep Scotland Beautiful.
The award is the international benchmark of quality in a park or open green space and is awarded annually to parks which meet the very strict criteria of the award system.
Across Fife a trio of Kirkcaldy parks — Beveridge park, Ravenscraig park and Dunnikier country park — join with Letham Glen, Dunfermline’s Pittencrieff park, Aberdour’s Silver Sands and Hawkcraig Point and the Haugh in Cupar in netting the accolade.
Labour councillor Judy Hamilton, the convener of Fife Council’s community and housing services committee, said she was very proud to welcome the awards.
“These internationally-recognised awards represent fantastic news for Fife.
“This clearly demonstrate the council’s commitment to providing and maintaining parks and open spaces for the recreation and wellbeing of everyone.
“They are free for us all to use and the recent spell of good weather has seen many people spending time enjoying parks and open spaces.”
The councillor added that the awards reflected a huge amount of effort and skill by the council’s workforce, who maintain the parks and support local community groups to play their part.
Across Scotland 71 parks have achieved Green Flag award status.
These parks join more than 1,700 across the UK, and further afield in New Zealand, Finland and Germany.
Green Flag award-winning parks and open green spaces are judged against eight criteria — including whether they are clean and well maintained, if the heritage is promoted and conserved, whether the local community is involved and if there is excellent management of the site.
Keep Scotland Beautiful works in partnership with Keep Britain Tidy, Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful and Keep Wales Tidy to provide a benchmark standard for parks and green spaces.
Its chief executive Derek Robertson congratulated all 71 parks from across Scotland for achieving the award.
“The Green Flag award scheme sets the standard for the management of our outdoor spaces and recognises the hard work of everyone involved.
“These are exceptional open spaces and the nation benefits hugely from them,” he said.
