Green Flag glory for Vale Park
Archived press release
Date Published: 28/07/08
Vale Park provides an ideal place for families to relax.
Vale Park in Aylesbury has scooped a prestigious Green Flag Award for the very first time.
The award – the equivalent of the blue flag for coastal resorts – recognises excellence in parks and open spaces.
The winning parks are judged to be welcoming and well maintained with the support and involvement of the local community.
Inspectors visited Vale Park, which is owned and maintained by Aylesbury Vale District Council, earlier this year to assess its facilities and management plan. Both have been judged to be of a very high standard.
Councillor David Thompson, Cabinet Member for Leisure, said: “Over the past few years, an enormous amount of work has been carried out at Vale Park to improve the quality and range of services provided for local residents. The Green Flag award recognises the efforts made and Vale Park’s position alongside some of Britain’s finest parks. The council’s green spaces team have worked extremely hard to make this happen and I wish to publicly congratulate them for their achievement.”
Vale Park, located just off Aylesbury High Street, provides an ideal place for families to relax. It offers a range of recreation facilities including a children’s play area, grass bowling green, skatepark, two hard surface tennis courts, and a multi-sports area suitable for football and basketball.
The park also boasts a mature collection of trees and shrubs, impressive formal gardens and beautiful floral displays.
Over the past four years around £700,000 has been invested in the park to improve its appearance and facilities. Further improvements are planned this year to help restore the park to its former glory.
The next phase of work will involve the removal of the old tennis courts, which will be replaced with a large open area of grass. There will also be a new footpath link by the Bearbrook.
The council is aiming to restore the appearance of the park to reflect, as far as is reasonably possible, the original 1920s design first laid out by renowned landscape architects Thomas Mawson and Sons. Proposed improvements include creating a new entrance and central path, renovating the railings, gates and brick piers, installing new park furniture and opening up Lovers Walk.