Five parks across Scarborough, Whitby, and Filey have been recognised among the best in the region with international Green Flag Awards, as new research highlights a widening national divide in green space access.
Five green spaces across the Yorkshire Coast are celebrating after achieving the international quality standard for parks and green spaces.
The popular sites in Scarborough, Whitby, and Filey are among one hundred and eighteen parks in Yorkshire and the Humber to receive a coveted Green Flag Award for 2026.
The awards, managed by the environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy, are currently celebrating their thirtieth anniversary. Nationally, the local spaces join a record two thousand, three hundred and ninety-one United Kingdom sites celebrating their achievement this year.
In Scarborough, North Yorkshire Council is celebrating success with three sites flying the prestigious flag: Falsgrave Park, Peasholm Park, and South Cliff Gardens.
Filey's Glen and Crescent Gardens, which are also managed by North Yorkshire Council, have similarly been recognised with the international benchmark for quality.
Meanwhile, in Whitby, Pannett Park has not only secured a Green Flag Award but has also achieved a Green Heritage Site Accreditation. This specific heritage honour is judged on the treatment of the site’s historic features, the standard of conservation, and public engagement.
Any green space that is freely accessible to the public is eligible to enter for a Green Flag Award. The awards are given on an annual basis, meaning winners must apply each year to renew their status and prove they continue to meet rigorous standards for safety, accessibility, environmental management, and community engagement.
However, the local coastal celebrations come alongside startling new research from Keep Britain Tidy, which reveals shocking levels of inequality regarding access to safe, well-maintained green spaces across the country.
A YouGov survey of more than two thousand United Kingdom adults, including one hundred and seventy-two in Yorkshire and the Humber, found stark differences in the quality and safety of local green spaces between the richest and poorest areas.
The findings show that just twenty-seven per cent of people in the most deprived areas nationally describe their local park as safe, compared to forty-six per cent in the least deprived areas.
The Green Flag Award Manager at Keep Britain Tidy, Paul Todd MBE, said:
"Parks are essential public spaces that support our wellbeing, our communities and our economy. Yet for millions of people, particularly in the most deprived areas, local parks simply don’t feel safe or welcoming."
"In an age of rising concern about community cohesion, young people’s wellbeing and time spent online, safe local parks are becoming more important than ever. Yet the communities who need them the most are sadly the least likely to have them."
"With public services under pressure, investing in parks is not a luxury, it’s a practical, preventative solution and one of the most visible ways councils can improve people’s quality of life."
"Every pound invested in a park, particularly in a deprived community, delivers real returns - improving wellbeing, bringing communities together, reducing loneliness, giving people somewhere safe and free to spend time and, ultimately, reducing pressure on public services like the NHS."
"Today’s Green Flag Award winners show what can be achieved when parks are properly supported and managed. As we celebrate 30 years of the Green Flag Award, we want every community to have access to green spaces that are safe, welcoming and maintained to the highest standards."
Following the publication of the research, Keep Britain Tidy is calling on local authorities to prioritise investment in parks in areas of greatest deprivation, urging them to use the Green Flag Award as a benchmark standard to drive improvement.
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