Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 8011 Criteria A successful Green Flag Award site demonstrates through a sound management plan and a well- run site that the management understand: + their users – who they are, who they could be, what they want, how they are informed and involved + their site – what is special about its history, biodiversity, landscape, social and physical setting, and what it is trying to achieve + their management strategy – that what is there is safe, in line with legislation and policy, well maintained and that there are plans for the future A green space is never finished – it needs to reflect and respond to the changing needs of its users, whilst retaining its character. The Green Flag Award is looking for continual improvement, hence the strapline ‘raising the standard’. This is reflected in the scoring line used in the judging process. See the diagram below. A green space should be striving to achieve a good level of management in all areas. For example, in the area of horticultural management, a ‘good’ standard would require all horticultural elements to be managed in line with recognised horticultural practice – plants to be in good condition and everywhere clearly looked after. An ‘excellent’ standard would only be awarded to a site with exemplary horticultural techniques displayed throughout, understood by all staff, and accompanied by a clear plan of both how this standard would be maintained in future years and why. It may be that a site is demonstrating a good or excellent standard in all but one or two areas. To gain and retain the Green Flag Award, it would be expected that these areas are clearly identified in the management plan alongside a coherent strategy for development. Judges may make the Award, but with clear recommendations for improvement, to which applicants would be required to respond in subsequent assessments. Applicants are judged against 27 different criteria divided into eight sections. These are not a list of requirements – the strength of the Green Flag Award is that it provides a framework for good management that professionals can evaluate and apply to their own particular site. For some sites, some of the sub-criteria will be ‘not applicable’ and for every site their proportionate importance will vary widely. This approach provides a clear but flexible framework for current management and future planning, and helps to make a case for funding, proving the value of the site to the community that it serves (often in ways that are otherwise difficult to quantify) and recognising the hard work of staff and volunteers. The Green Flag Award 0 / 1 2 / 3 / 4 5 / 6 7 8 9 10 Very poor Poor Fair Good Very Good Excellent Exceptional Judges scoring line