Civic Societies Forum

How can we help the Local Authority gain a Green Flag Award?

2008-04-25T06:50:35Z

Victoria Park is a delightful space yet the parks department seem to think that it is not to the standard of a Green Flag Award. As a Civic Society I know the Local Authority does not have a Green Flag Award yet and I remember reading in Grass Roots online that every Local authority should achieve a Green Flag. Our Society and the Friends groups would like to make this happen but other than reading the Civic Trust material on this subject I dont know how we would start.

3 questions

1 - Do any other Civic Societies work with the Local Authority in achieving a Green Flag Award?
2 - Can the Civic Trust tell us what we should be doing?
3 - What is the Civic Trust doing to ensure every local authority has a Green Flag Award?

Results from a recent survey showing Civic Societies Engaged in Open Spaces

2008-03-28T09:16:33Z

The Civic Trust want to launch a national campaign to restore wasted green spaces across the country. It is our aim for every community to live within 5 minutes of a well managed and clean green space. Currently over 100 civic societies have told us they are actively engaged in parks and open spaces but perhaps you are as well. Why not tell us your stories here or why not click the link to see who else is involved in this type of campaign.

Garden Grabbing

2008-04-24T11:40:34Z

Has any other Civic Society experienced the problem of “garden grabbing” in which developers acquire a large detached house, knock it down and then pack an estate of small new homes onto the plot. The local authority say that there is virtually nothing that they can do to stop these applications because gardens are surprisingly considered by planners to be “brownfield” land i.e. previously developed instead of green field land, as you might expect.

This practice whereby builders can exploit the planning loopholes is rife in the South East and I would really like to know if it is happening elsewhere.

Louise