BUZZING SALTEX 2019 Superb IOG show last week by TurfPro Editor, Laurence Gale MSC, MBPR
This year's SALTEX was a superb industry showcase with some great innovations on display - plus the IOG Awards recognised some of our most talented practitioners.
SALTEX 2019 was a very eventful two days for me last week, catching up with colleagues, industry professionals and more importantly the manufactures and exhibitors who year on year pay for the privilege to attend this annual event.
Always a busy two days for all who attend and exhibit, the event includes the prestigious annual IOG Industry Grounds Awards - which this year culminated in both Keith Kent, former head groundsman at RFU Twickenham and Chris Wood England and Wales Cricket Board pitch inspector, industry icons both, receiving lifetime achievement awards for their dedicated service to the turf grass industry.
TurfPro owner Duncan Murray-Clarke, editor Laurence Gale, and ex-Twickenham head groundsman Keith Kent
A full list of the winners can be seen at the end of my blog.
As for the show itself, without doubt a busy two days with over 300 exhibitors showing an array of machinery, products and services. There was a busy atmosphere within the halls, with plenty of footfall between the peak hours of 10am -2pm on both days.
Most people I spoke to were happy with the visitor numbers to their stands and spoke of good business being done. Innovation and the ongoing development of both battery and robotic products where definitely on the increase with many companies now embracing these new products.
Dennis Mowers launched a complete new range of battery powered E- Series Mowers that took three years to come to fruition, utilising patented lithium ion phosphate cells that contain no liquids. Providing a 48 volt high energy system they have the ability to be recharged over 2000 times.
The range includes the ES-860, a 34 inch (860mm) battery powered turf maintenance system which builds on the considerable reputation of the Dennis G860 cassette mower. Also on show was the ES-34 dedicated 34inch (860mm) cylinder mower, a ES-36 36 inch (910mm) cylinder mower and finally the ES -34R rotary mower.
No doubt in the coming years we will also see the development and bringing to market of their popular FT range of cassette mowers.
Richard Campey from Campey Turfcare was also pleased with the interest they received in their new Alltrec 4810T Tool Carrier - a versatile and all-electric machine that can operate several different attachments, which can be used to cut grass, control weeds, sweep paths and cut hedges.
There has been considerable interest from a number of local authorities who are now looking to drop the use of diesel or petrol engines in the coming years and are looking at more suitable ways of powering their maintenance fleets.
Whilst walking around the show I manged to meet up with many fellow practitioners and colleagues who always support the show, these included the likes of Ian Smith St Albans School; Vic Domain, Durham CCC; Keith Kent, ex RFU groundsman; Alex Vickers, IOG; Chris Woods, ECB; Andy Wood and staff of Enville GC; Wayne Lumbard, Wolves HG; Ed Mowe, Leicester Tigers HG; and Keith Porter. Leigh Sports Village.
I met up with Wayne Lumbard on the Mark Harrod stand where he explained he had just purchased a set of their revolutionary DEVOSHIFT Multi Directional Portable goal systems. It’s described as a patented 360 ball wheeled goal post system, that takes the hard work out of moving goal posts and reduces the risk of injury and damaged to playing surfaces. A very clever and simple innovation that will no doubt be a popular replacement for many of the existing goal systems currently being sold.
Wayne had been trailing these posts for several months and was extremely pleased with their performance, saying it been one of the best new products he has seen come to market in the last ten years and that it would make their job much easier.
There also seems to be a plethora of robotic mowers coming to market with many manufacturers now selling a range of these autonomous wonders. More and more people are becoming more tolerant and aware of their potential in the workplace.
I was also particularly interested in the new wash down facilities a company called Bio Circle were exhibiting at the show. Bio Circle GT Maxi is a water-based parts washer, using their CB 100 liquid cleaners reducing the need of copious amounts of water to clean machinery parts and machines.
I also took the opportunity to conduct a number of on the hoof interviews with many of our turf industry leading practitioners, movers and shakers, giving me a fascinating response to some of my industry-related questions.
We'll have more videos up to watch of the interviews I conducted at the show over the coming weeks.
The IOG Awards which took place on the evening of the first day of the show, were a sell-out event, hosted by BBC TV presenter Dan Walker.
The awards recognised leadership, innovation and outstanding achievement across every aspect of groundscare – from grassroots pitches to professional stadia.
The prestigious awards ceremony also celebrated the quality standards of groundscare achieved in public and private sports venues, and highlighted the progress of young/student grounds professionals as well as entrants’ environmental considerations.
The winners of the 2019 IOG Industry Awards were:
IOG Toro Most Promising Sports Turf Student of the Year Callum Allsop, Leicester City FC
IOG Rigby Taylor/Top Green Young Grounds Person of the Year Nick Pepper, Gloucestershire CCC
IOG Volunteer Sports Grounds Team/Individual of the Year
Andy Cambridge, Foxton FC, Cambridgeshire
IOG National Governing Bodies’ Community Sector Sports Club Grounds Team/Individual of the Year Harborough Town FC, Leicestershire
The National Governing Bodies of sport (NGBs) award is co-sponsored by the AELTC (All England Lawn Tennis Club), ECB (the England and Wales Cricket Board), The FA (Football Association), the LTA (Lawn Tennis Association), the Premier League, the RFL (Rugby Football League), RFU (Rugby Football Union) and Sport England
IOG AMS Robotics Public Sector Sports Grounds Team of the Year
Prestige Grounds Ltd, Wiltshire
IOG Bowling Grounds Team/Individual of the Year Polly Bowls Club, Sutton-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire
IOG SCH Supplies Best Managed Artificial Sports Surface of the Year University of Warwick
IOG Ransomes Environmental/Ecology Project of the Year City Football Academy, Manchester
IOG Headland Amenity Professional Cricket Grounds Team of the Year Sussex CCC
IOG CubCadet INFINICUT Professional Tennis Courts Grounds Team of the Year Devonshire Park, Eastbourne
IOG John Deere Professional Horse Racing Grounds Team of the Year Warwick Racecourse
IOG Professional Rugby Football League Grounds Team of the Year Castleford Tigers RLFC, West Yorkshire
IOG Compo Expert Professional Rugby Football Union Grounds Team of the Year Northampton Saints RFC
IOG Professional Football Grounds Team of the Year (English Leagues 1 & 2, National League, National League North/South, Scottish Championship & Leagues 1 & 2, Ireland & Wales Professional Leagues)
Swindon Town FC
IOG SGL Professional Football Grounds Team or the Year (Premier League, Championship and Scottish Premier League) Tottenham Hotspur FC
IOG Redexim Charterhouse/Kubota University/College Grounds Team of the Year Nottingham University
IOG Growth Products Independent School Grounds Team of the Year Merchiston Castle School, Edinburgh
IOG SISGrass International Award Dean Gilasbey, ProPitch
IOG Ransomes/DLF Johnsons Alex R Millar Groundsperson Award – chosen from the outstanding winner across all award categories Danny Negus, Devonshire Park, Eastbourne
IOG GrassMaster Solutions Outstanding Achievement Awards Keith Kent, former head groundsman at RFU Twickenham and Chris Wood England and Wales Cricket Board pitch inspector.
Commenting, IOG chief executive Geoff Webb, said, “We’ve enjoyed a glorious year of professional sport, especially a summer of outstanding cricket, and this has highlighted the crucial role played by high-class playing surfaces - and, therefore, also our superb groundscare skills.
“Our awards, however, also acknowledge the unstinting work of the army of volunteers who maintain grassroots pitches up and down the country, often on very limited budgets, to enable players of all abilities and ages to enjoy sport on well-prepared pitches.
“Yet again we have seen how fantastic our profession is, and I applaud everyone and thank them for their efforts in creating playing surfaces that are the envy of the world.”
Recent independent research by the Institute of Groundsmanship has identified concerning facts that they say will impact on the opportunities to play sport on well-maintained natural turf pitches.
Recent independent research by the Institute of Groundsmanship (IOG) has, they say, identified concerning facts that will impact on the opportunities to play sport on well-maintained natural turf pitches.
Research findings highlight the fact that the number of young people embarking on a career in groundsmanship is in decline - and with over 40% of the workforce over the age 50, this say the IOG, is a worrying trend. The report also shows that investment is urgently needed in adequate training and education to ensure groundscare professionals and volunteers are able to maintain safe, quality standard pitches to allow for increased demand for sports participation now and in the future.
As a result of these findings, the IOG has launched the Grounds4Sport campaign that calls on Government, sports bodies and industry to work together to bring about change, and to invest in natural turf pitches and the people who maintain them.
Grounds4Sport (visit www.iog.org for more details) is targeted to give natural turf sports provision the re-boot it needs. The campaign will work to create:
• Better pitches • More investment • More and better trained and qualified groundspeople • Raise the status of the profession.
According to the findings of the IOG’s industry-wide survey ‘Groundsmanship - Sports Vital Profession’, the UK sports turf groundscare sector employs more than 26,000 people, is supported by at least 37,000 volunteers and is worth more than £1 billion a year to the economy. But the research also highlights areas of concern that, if not addressed, are a ticking time bomb for the industry.
“Local authority austerity and budget cuts have had, and continue to have, a damaging effect on grassroots grass pitches,” says the IOG’s chief executive Geoff Webb. “The steady deterioration in the quality and the overplay of many pitches is impacting on the playing programmes of some sports,” he adds.
The research findings show that two of every five grounds professionals are over 50 years old and 20% of those could retire within five years. With less than one in five groundscare staff below the age of 30 and our discovery that some employers are choosing not to recruit new, replacement staff when an existing member leaves or retires, we have a crisis looming,” says Geoff.
He continues, “The time bomb issue doesn’t just apply to professionals. Our research identified that over two thirds of community grounds volunteers are over 60 and almost all are over 50. We applaud the commitment of these volunteers, and we are grateful of the support of our partners The Football Association, the Football Foundation and the England & Wales Cricket Board, but volunteers need more help, support and training.”
These are just some of the revelations from the IOG’s research which also reveals that the turf industry (in England and Wales alone) plays a significant role in the economy with:
A direct staffing paybill (including on-costs) of around £588 million plus the volunteers’ in-kind paybill of more than £120 million;
An operating budget (including grassroots and local government contractors) of around £478 million;
A capital expenditure of around £600 million over the past five years; and
Supports almost 5,000 businesses which employ at least 37,000 people.
Conducted by Myriad Consulting and Doran Consultancy, the comprehensive survey involved desktop research (including Sport England’s Active Places database and information from sports’ national governing bodies), in addition to an online survey and one-to-one interviews across sports played on grass/artificial surfaces, as well as horse racing.
It involved grounds staff/greenkeepers (professionals and volunteers) at all levels, from grassroots through to elite stadia. Responses were also attained from the education sector including colleges and local authorities.
Geoff Webb again: “The research highlights a number of issues which the sector – and the IOG - are already addressing. For example, some respondents (particularly those from the volunteer sector) raised concerns over the availability, accessibility and cost of training. The IOG has recently published its Prospectus which details all the cost-effective options, including on-site and ‘distance’ learning routes.
“And the budgetary restrictions that are affecting the maintenance – and therefore the quality and carrying capacity [matches played on] of grassroots pitches – are being addressed not only by The Football Association’s initiatives that include Parklife and the Pitch Improvement Programme, but also by work by the national governing bodies and local authorities to transfer the responsibility of more pitches to clubs and volunteers. Indeed, in some instances, councils are offering to give rent relief where clubs take on maintenance responsibilities.
“Of course, the IOG-led Grounds and Natural Turf Improvement Programme (GaNTIP), which is grant- funded by the Football Foundation, The Football Association and the England & Wales Cricket Board, and supported by Sport England, is also actively delivering pitch assessments and training for volunteers (and professionals) at all levels, while the IOG’s National Framework for Natural Turf pitch grading programme will prove an indispensable educational tool for grounds staff from grassroots sites to elite sporting venues.
“The report also highlights how recruitment, especially of young people, is a critical issue and it must be said that while the Young IOG initiative is increasingly spreading the word among schoolchildren about careers in groundscare – especially through its Schools into Stadia programme - it is clear that everyone in the industry must also do more to ensure we have a ‘pipeline’ of competent grounds staff to meet demands at every level.”
Importantly, too, the research shows that almost a quarter of head grounds staff feel stressed or under pressure from inadequate budgets, increasing commercial pressures and an unmanageable workload.
Concluding, Geoff adds: “These are just some of the subjects raised by the survey – not forgetting the issues of diversity and pay discrepancy voiced by some respondents, as well as concerns over climate change and water management – that not only the IOG but the industry as a whole needs to address if we are to continue to produce grounds people and playing surfaces that are the envy of the world.”
INVASIVE SPECIES MPs call for a million people's help by Laurence Gale, TurfPro editor
I read with interest a recent article on the BBC talking about the threat of Invasive species and the need for the UK to train a million volunteers to police and tackle the spread of these unwanted insects / plants and diseases.
I read with interest a recent article on the BBC talking about the threat of Invasive species and the need for the UK to train a million volunteers to police and tackle the spread of these unwanted insects / plants and diseases.
The piece said that it is estimated that between 36 and 48 new such species will become established in the next 20 years, according to a report by the Environmental Audit Committee.
Climate change is putting "the future of our natural landscape at risk," committee chairwoman Mary Creagh is quoted in the article.
A government spokesperson said it was "committed" to tackling the problem.
The phrase "invasive non-native species" (Inns) describes those species that have been directly moved as a result of human activity. In the UK, examples include the Asian hornet and giant hogweed.
The report says slowing their rate of arrival is the first priority in stopping their establishment.
It cites New Zealand's plan to train 150,000 people in biosecurity by 2025 and says the government should significantly expand its approach to public engagement. The committee wants 1.3 million people to be taught how to spot "outbreaks" of invasive species.
It also calls for a dedicated border force to be established by 2020 to improve biosecurity at UK borders, and bans on importing problem species before they present a risk to the UK.
I personally think the government would be better served if they utilised our existing pool of thousands of parks and amenity turf professionals, farmers, estate managers and grounds / greenkeeping labour forces who are ready better placed and educated in recognising the threat of these invasive species.
Ms Creagh, a Labour MP, said in the BBC piece, "Inns is one of the UK's top five threats to the natural environment. If we're to beat this, we need people power, with an army of volunteers trained to spot and stop an invasive species before it becomes established.
"Oak processionary moth caterpillars can strip an oak tree bare as well as posing a hazard to our own health. We face losing half of the UK's native ash trees to ash dieback within a century, costing £15bn.
"New regulations to halt their progress are welcome but they are too little, too late. Government funding to tackle invasive species is tiny and fails to match the scale of the threat."
The report also calls for the government to set up a rapid-response emergency fund to enable agencies to tackle a threat before it gets out of control and to increase funding for the Non-Native Species Secretariat to £3m per year.
A spokesman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) told the BBC, "Invasive non-native species not only challenge the survival of some of our rarest species but damage our natural ecosystems as well as costing the economy more than £1.7bn per year.”
"We are committed to being leaders in tackling invasive species, and our 25-year Environment Plan commits us to enhancing the biosecurity of the country even further. "We welcome the EAC's report and will now carefully consider its findings and recommendations."
Confirmed at the SALTEX exhibition last week, Lister Wilder have become the first non-John Deere dealers to be appointed for the Roberine range of commercial machinery.
Confirmed at the SALTEX exhibition last week, Lister Wilder have become the first non-John Deere dealers to be appointed for the Roberine range of commercial machinery.
Maarten Ponne, senior sales manager at Roberine shakes hands with Phill Hughes, sales director of the groundcare division at Lister Wilder at SALTEX this week
Whilst talks have been taking place for the deal for some time, hands were shaken and the deal announced on day one of the show on the Wednesday.
Lister Wilder will be stocking the Roberine range in all five of their groundscare branches across the south of England.
Phill Hughes, sales director of the groundcare division at Lister Wilder, believes the machines are an ideal match with their current commercial offerings. "Roberine fits so perfectly with the other franchises that we hold," he told Service Dealer. "We are confident we’re going to do really well with the products. It completes the jigsaw for us in terms of the commercial customer.
"I have a strong belief that this is the future of commercial mowing."
Maarten Ponne, senior sales manager at Roberine, said he had been delighted with the impact the machines had made with visitors to SALTEX this week. He went on to say, "I'm very excited about the prospects for our machines across the south of England now we are partnered with Lister Wilder."
The BIGGA members will represent the UK greenkeeping industry as they network with peers from around the globe and sample the education on offer at the turf management exhibition, taking place at the Orange County Convention Center in 2020.
Orange County Conference Center
The BIGGA delegation is considered one of the leading opportunities available to greenkeepers in the UK and the experience can be truly career-defining. There’s not just the experience of attending the show, but the delegates will also visit some of the leading golf facilities in the region and they’ll build a close camaraderie that can last their entire career. They’ll also join the ranks of other BIGGA members who have taken part in the delegation, meeting up at BTME each year and even organizing reunions for many years after the event.
For the first time, a female BIGGA member has been selected to join the trip, with Wenvoe Castle Golf Club head greenkeeper Lucy Sellick successfully applying for a place on the delegation.
All 10 delegates will benefit from fantastic networking opportunities and have access to the education seminars and workshops hosted by the American golf superintendents’ association.
Lucy, 44, said: “I’m over the moon about being selected as everyone within the industry talks about the delegation and how rewarding it is. After cutting fairways this morning while wearing 10 layers because it was only 4 degrees, the thought of going to Florida in January isn’t too bad.
“Greenkeeping has always felt like a family and then all of a sudden, 10 of you are going away on this incredible experience. I’m so grateful for the generosity of Bernhard and Company who are allowing this to take place and for the support of BIGGA who organise these amazing opportunities for members.”
Bernhard and Company Director Steven Nixon said: “The BIGGA delegation is always a very exciting initiative for Bernhard and Company. Each year we are hugely impressed with the calibre of applications and the candidates this year did not disappoint. We are pleased to give these 10 BIGGA members the opportunity of this trip and we’re confident that it will be a great step in furthering their careers.”
The BIGGA delegates are:
Andy Merry, course manager, Preston Golf Club
Callum Goodhind, deputy course manager, Prestbury Golf Club
Jack Sims, course manager, Surrey Downs Golf Club
Jake Boardman, deputy head greenkeeper, Roehampton Golf Club
Peter Robinson, course manager, PGA National Ireland at Slieve Russell
Jonny Peacock, head greenkeeper, Rugby Golf Club
David Roberts, course manager, Saddleworth Golf Club
Chris Sharp, course manager, Hampstead Golf Club
Lucy Sellick, head greenkeeper, Wenvoe Castle Golf Club
Andrew Riley, first assistant, Warrington Golf Club
The agreement will support the delivery of range of testing products and data-driven services, including STRI’s new sports surface performance tracker, TurfSync.
STRI has engaged with Surface Performance to work together providing sports surface design and testing services for artificial sports surfaces.
The Institute say this collaboration is uniquely placed to combine the highest standard of international and regional expertise to improve artificial sports surfaces at all levels of facility to clients across the globe.
STRI and Surface Performance have worked extensively with major sports governing bodies and organisations. STRI delivered pitch consultancy for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, Wimbledon Championships and UEFA, while Surface Performance provides accredited testing and certification for FIFA, World Rugby, FA and ITF standards.
The agreement will support the delivery of range of innovative testing products and data-driven services, including STRI’s new sports surface performance tracker - TurfSync.
STRI head of business development, Andrew Brooker, said, “The agreement ensures our respective businesses can provide a well-rounded service to our existing and future clients. We are pleased to be working with Surface Performance to be able to deliver both services to the global sports surface market.”
Surface Performance director, Callum Reid, said, “This is an exciting opportunity for our team to work alongside STRI throughout the UK and globally. With more and more venues now offering both natural turf and synthetic fields, having the two companies working in parallel makes complete commercial sense.”
Upon completion, Maxwell Amenity and Sherriff Amenity, the professional turf and landscape division of Agrovista, are to join forces.
It has been announced that an agreement has been reached between Agrovista and the majority shareholders of Maxwell Amenity, and the transaction is expected to conclude in the next couple of months once the parties have finalised certain preparatory steps.
Upon completion, Maxwell Amenity (who own Pitchcare) and Sherriff Amenity, the professional turf and landscape division of Agrovista, are to join forces.
In a statement Agrovista said the new business will focus on combining the skills and expertise of their respective teams to provide UK wide coverage, giving customers the highest standards of advice, products and service.
Commenting on the announcement, managing director of Agrovista UK, Chris Clayton said, “The acquisition is an exciting opportunity to grow the sales of amenity products by Agrovista through acquiring a business which is complementary to our current amenity business, Sherriff Amenity. The acquisition will allow Agrovista to extend its reach into customer channels in which it is currently underrepresented and better leverage the combined cost and asset base of both businesses.”
MD of Maxwell Amenity, Dave Saltman, stated, “We are very excited about the merger; both our teams have highly qualified and knowledgeable staff. Together with the greater research and product development support available, the new business will be a leading force in the professional turf sector, providing all customers with an even greater level of service.”
The new business will be headed by a combined senior management team.
Although the second day was plagued with heavy rain, this did not deter visitors to Turf Maintenance Live, held at St Albans School’s Woollam Playing Fields, on Wednesday 23 and Thursday 24 October.
Although the second day was plagued with heavy rain, this did not deter visitors to Turf Maintenance Live, held at St Albans School’s Woollam Playing Fields, on Wednesday 23 and Thursday 24 October.
Over 130 delegates visited the event to see an eclectic mix of equipment that the 10 manufacturers and distributors had assembled at the venue, immaculately prepared by head groundman Ian Smith and his team.
Visitors were able to visit each of the exhibitors - Agria UK, Ernest Doe & Sons, GKB Machines, Husqvarna UK, Iseki UK, Martin Lishman, Price Turfcare (Ventrac), Rigby Taylor, Wessex International and Wiedenmann UK - to see their equipment offering and in some cases ride and drive the machines on display.
“Considering the weather on the second day we were pleased,” said Val Graham from the TML team. “Some attendees came from as far away as south Wales, which proves the value of the event. With minimal opportunity to demo equipment at other industry events, this was a great occasion for our groundscare colleagues to see a wide range of equipment and, for some, the opportunity to ride and drive the machines.
“We are indebted to St Albans School, and Ian Smith in particular, for allowing us the use of their superb facilities, which were in pristine condition and looked fantastic.”
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As a passionate ex parks manager and Green Flag judge I want to reiterate the importance of their annual Awards and the value they bring to the table in terms of promoting the importance of green space.
As a passionate ex parks manager and Green Flag judge I want to reiterate the importance of the annual Green Flag Awards and the value they bring to the table in terms of promoting the importance of green space.
I, along with several hundred other Green Flag judges, are privileged to be able to go out and assess and meet up with the hundreds of people who are dedicated to managing these wonderful assets.
A Green Flag Award is the benchmark national standard for publicly accessible parks and green spaces in the United Kingdom. The scheme was set up in 1996 to recognize and reward green spaces in England and Wales that met the laid down high standards.
In 1997, when the first Green Flags were awarded, the green space sector in the United Kingdom was in a parlous state. Decades of underfunding had left many once proud and beautiful historic city centre parks derelict, dangerous, no-go areas and many other green spaces were neglected or barely maintained.
Experts with a shared interest in promoting natural spaces from a range of backgrounds came together in response to this decline. The scheme was directed by a Steering Group made up of individuals and representatives of larger organisations, led by Mark Davis of the Pesticides Action Network UK, who worked closely with the following individuals to develop and drive the scheme forward in these early years: Nick Reeves - ILAM (The Institute of Leisure and Amenity Management) and then of CIWEM (The Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management); Ken McAnespie - KMC Consultancy; George Barker - English Nature; Allan Tyler - independent consultant; and Liz Greenhalgh - independent consultant.
Their intention was to establish agreed standards of good management, to help to justify and evaluate funding, and to bring people back into the parks. And it worked. As the Standard became established, other green spaces began to apply for the Award, and now Green Flags fly over parks, cemeteries and crematoria, recreation grounds, canals, reservoirs, educational campuses, hospital grounds, housing estates, nature reserves and allotments.
There is no limit on the size of the site; they currently range from less than one hectare to thousands of hectares.
Parks and green spaces are judged in April and May each year and the winners are announced in July. Parks must apply each year to keep their Green Flag Award, and winning sites are eligible to fly a Green Flag in the park for a year.
Sites for a Green Flag Award are judged against eight key criteria:
A welcoming place
Healthy, safe and secure
Clean and well maintained
Sustainability
Conservation and heritage
Community involvement
Marketing
Management
General key messages :-
The Green Flag Awards celebrate the best green spaces in the country
2019 saw a record number of awards – 1,970 (compared to 1,887 in 2018)
There has never been a more important time to visit your park to demonstrate how important they are to you and your community
Love Parks Week is 12th – 21st July. Is Britain’s biggest celebration of valuable green spaces which aims to encourage people to visit their local parks and share their favourite moments on social media with #LoveParks
I was also privileged to attend one of the three the award ceremonies that took place in July to present the winners with their certificates where I heard Green Flag Accreditation Mangers Paul Todd give a welcoming speech and talked about the values of achieving Green Flag status
Paul Todd has worked at Keep Britain Tidy since 2009 and is responsible for the Green Flag Award, Blue Flag Award, Seaside Award and Green Key.
Paul has worked on the Green Flag Award scheme since 2003. During this period the number of sites flying the flag has increased from 182 to 1,881, with sites in nine countries outside the UK including the Netherlands, Australia and the United Arab Emirates.
Paul is also a Director of The Parks Alliance, the voice of UK Parks. He is a passionate advocate of quality places for people to live, work and relax in, wherever they live.
Paul was keen to point out several key messages :-
Spending time in parks and green spaces is proven to improve mental wellbeing, yet new research shows we are not spending enough time in these spaces to gain the benefits
The University of Exeter Medial School determined that people need to spend at least two hours in nature each week to promote positive mental wellbeing. Research by Keep Britain Tidy reveals that less than a third of the UK public are actually getting this recommended time
85% of people say that being in a green space has a positive effect on their wellbeing but only 32% are getting their ’20-a-day’
What are Green Flag Awards?
The Green Flag Award is the international standard for parks in the UK.
The Award recognises well managed and high quality green spaces.
The awards are valid for one year.
There are three awards available for parks and green spaces:
The Green Flag Award recognises well managed and high quality green spaces
The Green Flag Community Award recognises high quality green spaces that are managed by voluntary or community groups
The Green Heritage Site Accreditation is given in recognition of achieving the required standard in the conservation and interpretation of a site with local or national historic importance
Is it just open to parks?
No. Any freely accessible green space may apply including cemeteries, nature reserves and allotments.
Does every park that applies get an Award?
Approximately 3% of applications are unsuccessful and not everybody retains the award every year. The scheme is used across the parks sector as a quality measure and the sector understands the standards that are required to achieve it.
How much does it cost to get a Green Flag Award?
The application fees in England range from £325 to £375. This money covers the cost of administering the scheme, training and the provision of expenses for our network of 700 volunteer judges and, of course, the Green Flag itself if they win.
Is it money well spent?
It is important that we are able to measure the quality of our green spaces as we know how they can decline rapidly if they are not adequately funded. The Green Flag Award helps parks to target money where it will make the biggest difference to users in their management of the park. The local authorities that support Green Flag Award year after year recognise its value as it not only provides a standard for staff to strive to achieve but also recognition of their hard work.
Why should we spend money on parks?
There is a raft of evidence that proves the growing importance of having quality green space, particularly as the country becomes more urbanized.
Our parks play an important role in encouraging people to take exercise and this role will only grow as the obesity level rises. People are more likely to exercise if they live near to quality green space.
A park that is neglected is less likely to be used as people are more fearful for their safety.
Parks also play an ever-increasing role in mitigating the effects of climate change and, particularly in urban areas, can provide a much-needed ‘green lung’ away from air pollution. A green space is, on average, 2-3 degrees cooler than its surrounding area therefore we need to increase the amount of green space in our towns and cities.
There has been a lot of talk about cuts to council services. What can people do to support their local park and ensure that standards are maintained?
There is no doubt that, if we want to keep our fantastic parks, the public are going to have to support them and work with park managers and community groups. There are already thousands of friends groups up and down the country. If your park has a friends group you could join it, if not why not consider setting one up?
Are the positive effects of green spaces on mental health proven?
Yes. Lots of medical and scientific research has been conducted that proves there are very real positive effects of spending time in nature on wellbeing. Most recently, researchers from the University of Exeter Medial School conducted a study of 20,000 people and found that spending at least two hours a week in nature is strongly linked with good health and wellbeing.
What are you doing to encourage more people to use parks and green spaces?
By encouraging more and more parks and green spaces to apply for the Green Flag Awards, we are setting a high standard that they have to attain. Our research shows that people are more likely to spend time in parks and green spaces if they have certain qualities such as being well maintained and clean and promoting personal safety and healthy activities.
