Prestigious Green Flag awards for Havelock North, Cornwall and Flaxmere parks

For the third year running, Hastings’ three premier parks have kept their international Green Flags.

The awards recognise excellent parks that provide high quality, innovative recreational experiences for their communities.

Flaxmere Park, Havelock North Village Green and Cornwall Park first received Green Flag Awards in 2019, and kept the prestigious status in 2020.

The awards are valid for a year, and when applying for them to be renewed, park managers must show they have maintained or improved their processes and plans, leading to improvements on the park.

Council’s parks team applied to renew the three Green Flags in 2021 and, following on-site inspections in December, it was announced this week that they had again achieved the status.

Councillor and Great Communities subcommittee chair Eileen Lawson said it was a real achievement to be recognised in these awards that showcase the best in the world.

“As well as recognising the amazing job our community volunteers and parks and open spaces team do to maintain and improve our much-loved outdoor spaces, it gives us valuable independent feedback from qualified people on our parks, and the management of them.

“The award assessments are carried out by judges from around New Zealand on behalf of Green Flags International and having access to these park specialists throughout the application process is a valuable way to keep up with the latest ideas and information.

“Our council knows these parks are highly valued by our community and to be achieving such a high level of quality and sustainability is really fantastic for our district.”

There are just 24 parks with Green Flag status in New Zealand, with four of them in Hawke’s Bay: the three Council parks and Te Mata Park. 

There are 27 criteria against which they are judged, including their Reserve Management Plans, community consultation and engagement processes, environmental and sustainability practises, horticultural management and succession planning, safety, and how accessible and welcoming they are to their communities.

They are judged each year to ensure the parks are being consistently improved and meeting the needs of their communities.

18 January 2022

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