Hunstanton and Walks King’s Lynn Green Flag Awards by Keep Britain Tidy show West Norfolk environmental credentials

Cllr Brian Long, cabinet member for corporate services, submits this column.

Environmental charity ‘Keep Britain Tidy’ recently recognised the green credentials of five parks and green spaces in West Norfolk.

Boston Square Sensory Garden and Heritage Gardens in Hunstanton, along with Mintlyn Crematorium, Tower Gardens and The Walks in King’s Lynn have all raised their Green Flag Awards. All of these parks are well used in our borough and looked after by our public open space staff and volunteers.

This recognition came in the same week that the borough council was supplying floral displays for the Sandringham Flower Show.

Some 20,000 people attend the show every year and, for many years, our open space grounds central team have been providing some of the displays.

Our team are also able to collect the displays when the show has finished and plant them elsewhere in the borough, an excellent way of letting more people in the borough see the flowers and, you could say, a good example of recycling.

Another green recycling initiative is the charitable scheme operated by the Institute of Cemetery and Crematorium Management (ICCM), of which Mintlyn Crematorium is a member.

Under the scheme metal from medical implants is recycled after cremation, with the consent of the family of the deceased. Twice a year the institute asks its scheme members to nominate local charities, which help to support people to cope with the death of loved ones, to receive a donation.

More than £140,000 has been raised for charities over the last decade. I was pleased to hand over a cheque for £12,000 to Nelson’s Journey last week.

My role took me to another green space last week, Howdale Park in Downham Market (pictured) which has a new £100,000 play area. I was pleased to see the tables and chairs there were made from recycled materials.

Half of the funding has come from the Community Infrastructure Levy, a charge that local developers pay to be used to improve local amenities that support communities and the other half from borough council match funding.

This will give young people living there a great reason to visit their park and help encourage a healthy, more active lifestyle.