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City of Edinburgh Council
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Green Flag Parks

Park Quality Assessments

Each year the Council assesses all its parks and gardens using Green Flag Award criteria. This is undertaken by Edinburgh 's formal Green Flag judges along with other council officers, council partners and members of the public.

The assessment categories include Welcoming; Healthy, Safe & Secure; Clean & Well Maintained; Sustainability; Conservation; Community Involvement and Marketing. Each criterion within these categories is scored out of 10 with 1 being very poor and 10 being exceptional. A total score is then calculated to give a Parks Quality Score (PQS) which is then placed into a bandwidth depending on the classification of the park.

Edinburgh has five classifications for its parks:

  • Premier Parks - large diverse parks serving international and national visitors as well as local and citywide needs
  • City Parks - serve citywide and local needs
  • Natural Heritage Parks - semi-natural greenspaces managed as public parks, usually large and featuring hills or woodland
  • Community Parks - serve local needs
  • Gardens - often small areas with flower beds, shrubs & seating
  • Recreation grounds - area predominately used for sporting activities

Although the PQS score can show the difference in quality, the expectation is that Premier or City parks should be of a higher standard than a community park or recreation ground. It was decided that each type of park should have a minimum standard score (Edinburgh Minimum Standard). The target for Edinburgh for 2011 is that 75% of Edinburgh 's parks should meet this standard.

Classification

Poor

Fair

Good

Min

Edin Std

Good +

Very Good

Excellent

Premier Park

35% - 49%

50% - 64%

65% - 69%

70%

70% - 74%

75% - 84%

85% - 89%

City Park

25% - 39%

40% - 49%

50% - 59%

50%


60% - 69%

70% - 79%

Community Park

20% - 34%

35% - 44%

45% - 54%

45%


55% - 64%

65% - 74%

Recreation Ground

15% - 29%

30% - 39%

40% - 49%

40%


50% - 59%

60% - 69%

Gardens

25% - 39%

40% - 49%

50% - 59%

50%


60% - 69%

70% - 79%

Natural

30% - 44%

45% - 54%

55% - 59%

60%

60% - 64%

65% - 74%

75% - 84%

Cemeteries

25% - 39%

40% - 49%

50% - 59%

50%


60% - 69%

70% - 79%

If you are interested in partcipitating in the Park Quality Assessments please let us know by emailing the Green Flag Co-ordinator

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