Photograph: Alan Wexler (an entry in the 2015 Friends of Broomfield Park photo competition)
Broomfield Park could be named as the UK’s Best Park, in a new award programme set up by a national charity, Fields in Trust. The nomination, by one of the park’s users, says: It has everything: three ponds for ducks, remote control boats and meditating by, bandstand with summer concerts, grass for games, grass for picnics, community orchard and cafe, remains of Tudor house, conservatory, bowls club, and is well used and loved.
Voting for the award is now open; for more information and to cast your vote, visit the Fields in Trust website. Voting closes at 5pm on Wednesday 25 November. Fields in Trust’s annual awards ceremony in December celebrates the great work being done in parks and playgrounds across the UK. The ‘UK’s Best Park’ category is new this year, and will be entirely voted for by the public.
It follows publication of Field in Trust’s national survey, which shows that 95% of people agree that parks and play areas should be protected from development. 82% feel so strongly that they would campaign against losing their park. Nearly one in five people (16%) say that their local park or green space is, or has been, under threat of being lost or built on. Almost half of people say using their local park helps them to feel healthier (48%), with 70% of 16 to 24 year olds also feeling less stressed as a result of having access to green space. Almost a quarter of people (24%) use their local park at least twice a week.
About Fields in Trust
Fields in Trust is a national charity that operates throughout the UK to safeguard recreational spaces and campaign for better statutory protection for all kinds of outdoor sites.
Founded in 1925 as the National Playing Fields Association by King George V, their mission is the same now and as it was then: to ensure that everyone – young or old, able-bodied or disabled and wherever they live – should have access to free, local outdoor space for sport, play and recreation. These spaces are vital to building happy and healthy communities and sadly continue to be threatened by all kinds of development.
Fields in Trust currently safeguards over 2,500 sites; a total of 28,000 acres of land including playgrounds, playing fields, and formal and informal parkland across the UK.
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