It was a flag waving week for Liverpool after 2 of its best loved parks picked up a national award

BOTH Sefton Park and Stanley Park have retained the coveted Green Flag status, for the 15th year in a row, in recognition of their excellent condition. The Government backed accolade, awarded by Keep Britain Tidy, is internationally recognised and seen as:- "the Oscars of the park world."

Sefton Park, which celebrated its 150th Anniversary in May with a happy birthday message from Sir Paul McCartney, is widely regarded as 1 of the country's most outstanding public parks with a distinctive landscape of watercourses.

The City's only Grade I listed Park, it is home to the beautiful and iconic Palm House which recently hosted BBC One's Antiques Roadshow. Numerous features and facilities have been added to improve the park's appeal over the decades, with recent upgrades to the children's playground and a new bins.

Stanley Park, which famously sits between Liverpool and Everton's football grounds, was designed by leading Victorian landscape architect Edward Kemp and was originally conceived as "a people's park".

Opened in 1870, this 110 acre green lung is renowned for its distinctive design and architecture, which includes a formal terrace with lawns and bedding displays enhanced by 5 sturdy gothic style shelters in red sandstone. The Grade II listed park also features the refurbished Victorian Isla Gladstone Conservatory.

As well as being easy on the eye and a great place for a picnic, Liverpool's parks are also a cornerstone of the City's cultural programme and proved to be invaluable spaces during the Covid19 Pandemic.

Each year the City's parks also play host to thousands of visitors with events such as:- the The Walton Festival, Africa Oye and The Arabic Arts Festival.

Councillor Dan Barrington, Cabinet Member for Environment and Climate Change, said:- "It's very rewarding to see Sefton and Stanley Parks retain their prestigious Green Flag status. They've played a huge role in the cultural life of our City for more than a century and maintaining this standard of excellence means we can continue to give residents and visitors a fabulous free experience of enjoying all the benefits of the great outdoors. We are proud of all of our parks and keeping them in great condition takes a real team effort. We are fortunate enough to have an extremely dedicated parks team and the support of community volunteers who feel passionately about their local green spaces. We are now working with Keep Britain Tidy to ensure the public are better informed about the importance of keeping these vital spaces clean and safe so that we can all enjoy them, every day."

Alan Smith from Liverpool City Council's parks team said:- "To retain the Green Flag award for this many years really does show the amount of effort everyone puts in to make sure our parks look their best every day - and its hugely rewarding to see families and groups enjoying our parks throughout the year."

Paul Todd, Keep Britain Tidy's Accreditation Manager, said:- "I would like to congratulate everyone involved in making these parks worthy of a Green Flag Award. Sefton Park and Stanley Park are vital green spaces for the community in Liverpool. This award is testament to all the hard work of staff and volunteers, who do so much to ensure that they maintain the high standards demanded by the Green Flag Award."

If you do not already know, The Green Flag Award Scheme is run by the environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy, under licence from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, in partnership with Keep Scotland Beautiful, Keep Wales Tidy and Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful.

The UK's most social media obsessed Cities

1 of our 2 nearest Cities, Preston has gained the title of:- "Most social media obsessed City within the UK," according to new research. The study by internet experts VPNOverview.com analysed the number of monthly Google searches over the past year for social media platforms including:- Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram and TikTok to see which Cities had the highest searches per 1,000 people. It found that the Lancashire City of Preston was the most social media obsessed City. This is due to more than 215,200 social media searches being made in the City, which when accounting for population means there are 1,517.63 searches per 1,000 people made every month. 99.52% of Preston residents have access to superfast broadband, 2 percentage points higher than the UK average of 97.2%.

Liverpool came in 6th place, with more than 660,100 social media searches made a month which when accounted for population means there are 1,328.75 searches for social media per 1,000 people in the City.

Glasgow comes in as the 2nd most social media obsessed City. More than 956,300 searches are made for social media in the City every month, which gives a score of 1,512.34 searches per 1,000 people when accounted for population. A 2020 Selectra report showed Glasgow had the fourth-highest broadband speeds in the UK on average.

With 1,453.38 searches per 1,000 people and 93,070 social media searches a month, the cathedral City of Hereford is the 3rd most social media obsessed City. Facebook alone made up nearly 80% of the social media searches, with 74,000 searches per month for the platform.

Bristol comes in 4th place, with around 645,000 social media searches which, when accounting for population, gives the City 1,380.86 social media searches per 1,000 people and a fourth-place position.

Coming in 5th place is Cambridge, with 199,880 monthly searches for social media, which gives the City a score of 1,333.36 searches per 1,000 people when population is accounted for.

Facebook was found to be the most popular platform in every City out of all the platforms studied.

Commenting on the findings, a spokesperson from VPNOverview said:- "Social media has become a fundamental part of so many people's lives over the past decade, so it's natural that some Cities would take more of a liking to it than others. It's interesting to see the contrasting collection of Cities in the top ten, indicating that this interest is not concentrated in 1 part of the UK either."

The study was conducted by:- VPNOverview, cybersecurity experts dedicated to helping internet users feel safer and protected online.  r