Yorkshire Coast Parks Recognised with Prestigious Green Flag Awards

Five beloved green spaces along the Yorkshire Coast have proudly received the coveted Green Flag Award, an international quality standard for parks and green spaces.

The recognised sites include Falsgrave Park, Peasholm Park, and South Cliff Gardens in Scarborough, Glen and Crescent Gardens in Filey, and Pannett Park in Whitby. This achievement highlights the dedication to maintaining high-quality outdoor areas for local communities and visitors.

The Green Flag Award scheme, managed by the environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy, serves as a benchmark for the management of recreational outdoor spaces across the UK and globally. Sites are assessed against high standards, and those achieving at least 66% on the criteria are awarded a Green Flag. The awards are granted on an annual basis, requiring winners to reapply each year to renew their status.

Commenting on the achievement, Cllr Richard Foster, executive member for managing our environment at North Yorkshire Council, emphasised the significance of these awards for the coast.

"It's very good for the coast, I think.

It is probably a legacy event from Scarborough who, you know, put in for getting a green flag, whereas other areas probably didn't bother. 

From what I can gather, it's, it's something, you know, you, you put yourself forward for and then you get judged basically.

And if you get 66%, I think you, you get awarded a green flag on, on the criteria. 

Each of the park has a sort of like a friends of the, you know, of that particular park, it's down as much down to them as it is down to the, you know, the work of the council for getting these awards. "

Cllr Foster further highlighted the importance of these spaces, he stressed that these parks are crucial for "more urban communities to have easy access to green spaces and clean air".

"The weekend we've just had, superb weather and people knowing that they can go out, into clean , environmentally friendly safe spaces, and enjoy the outdoors, I think that's hugely important. 

We've lots of what they call natural capital, haven't we? But actually in our urban areas, we don't have that many parks really in our reasonable sized parks.

So I do think they're important for those more urban communities to have easy access to green spaces and clean air.

It's a bit of kudos for the parks teams and also, you know, for the friends teams as well, to say that their park is up to a standard. 

I just think it's really about, you know, the community groups and they're the big winners in this, I think."

Overall, 113 parks and green spaces across Yorkshire and the Humber were announced as 2025 Green Flag Award winners by Keep Britain Tidy.

The Yorkshire Coast parks being the only winners in North Yorkshire.

Allison Ogden-Newton OBE, Chief Executive of Keep Britain Tidy, congratulated the winners, stating,

"We are thrilled to see that an incredible 113 sites in Yorkshire and the Humber have met the standards required for a Green Flag Award, reflecting the tireless work of the people tasked with caring for and improving these crucial national assets".

Ms. Ogden-Newton further explained the broader impact of these high-quality green spaces, asserting, "Our quality parks and green spaces make the UK a healthier place in which to live and work, and a stronger place in which to invest". She highlighted the role of green spaces as "a vitally important part of this country’s green infrastructure," offering opportunities to "improve physical and mental health even in the most built-up urban environments".

The Green Flag Award is seen as setting the standard for site care, with growing recognition that green spaces are integral to climate solutions by mitigating carbon emissions, acting as cooling havens, and assisting with climate change adaptation and mitigation, including reducing flooding incidents.

Keep Britain Tidy's objective is to significantly increase the number of Green Flag Award-status sites by 2030, ensuring that high-quality green spaces are accessible to everyone, regardless of where they live.

A full list of Green Flag Award-winning parks and green spaces is available at www.keepbritaintidy.org/sites/default/files/resources/2025 UK winners list v1.pdf