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Merseyside Parks compete for UK's Best
Park Award
14 Merseyside Parks nominated for public vote, 360
nominated parks across the UK compete to be declared the nation's favourite park
and research shows how Parks and Green Spaces contribute to health and well
being.
The Fields in Trust UK's Best Park, Award is now open for a public vote to
select the nation's favourite local park. A total of 14 cherished green spaces
in Merseyside are featured in the 360 UK wide nominations, each a much loved
part its local community.
Wirral has 5 nominations, those being Arrowe Park; Birkenhead Park; Harrison
Park; Thurstaston Common and Vale Park and there are 8 Liverpool parks:- Calderstones, Croxteth, Derby, Everton, Rimrose Valley, Sefton, Walton Hall and
Wavertree Playground. Southport's Botanical Gardens was also nominated. Now it
is time to choose the winners via an
online public vote.
Nominations include small community gardens and large nature reserves, sports
fields and playgrounds, each green space valued by its community and nominated
by the regular park users who love to:- walk, run, cycle, relax, picnic and play
with their children in the UK's parks.
'The UK's Best Park Award' will see the
park with the most votes in each of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern
Ireland shortlisted and nominators invited to attend the prestigious:- 'Fields in
Trust Awards,' at Lord's Cricket Ground, in November 2017, where the UK's Best Park, as
voted by YOU! 2017 will be named.
Fields in Trust is a national charity that operates throughout the UK to
safeguard recreational spaces and campaign for better statutory protection for
all kinds of outdoor sites,
The latest research from Fields in Trust shows, for
the 1st time at national level, a direct and statistically significant link
between public parks and green spaces and health and wellbeing. There is an
established link between an individual's use of parks and an improvement in
their physical health, life satisfaction, sense of worth, happiness and anxiety
levels.
Minister for Local Government, Marcus Jones MP has convened a new Parks Action
Group to review how parks meet the needs of local communities.
Appointed to this
Government advisory group, Fields in Trust Chief Executive Helen Griffiths,
said:- "Despite their clear health benefits, parks and green spaces are
facing an uncertain future; across the UK outdoor spaces are under threat. The
UK's Best Park Award celebrates the parks and green spaces which are so vital to
the communities that use them.
Recognising the UK's Best Park is a way of revaluing our green spaces; not
viewing them just as a drain on resources for maintenance and upkeep; but
seeing what benefits they bring; access to good quality recreational space can
contribute to the physical and mental health of their local population and
provide places for people to get together for community events."
In 2016 Rouken Glen Park in East Renfrewshire was named UK's Best Park out of a
field of 214 nominations this year a much bigger number of 360 cherished local
parks have been nominated and are available for public vote on the Fields in
Trust website.
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