Two of the district's parks lose their coveted Green Flag status

Neither Peel Park in Bradford nor the St Ives Estate in Bingley made the grade this year, after both holding the accolade for many years.

In total, Green Flag status was awarded to just four of the district’s parks: Lister Park in Manningham, Roberts Park in Saltaire, Harold Park in Low Moor and Central Park in Haworth.

It is the lowest number of Green Flags for the district in five years and it is the first round of awards since Bradford Council controversially cut back on its budget for floral displays.

The award scheme is run by Keep Britain Tidy. It judges parks on a number of factors, including sustainability, conservation, marketing and management and whether the park is safe, clean and well-maintained.

A spokesman for Keep Britain Tidy said it did not comment on parks which were not awarded Green Flags.

But Councillor Simon Cooke (Con, Bingley Rural) said he suspected St Ives had lost out because of the state of its toilets.

He said: “There’s a problem with the council’s provision of public lavatories.

“I can’t speak for Peel Park but the public lavatories at St Ives are atrocious.”

Cllr Cooke said being recognised as a Green Flag park was important.

He said: “I don’t think people are all going to stop going but I do think it is important in terms of promoting the park.”

He called for a new way of managing the park, where money raised through rents or soon-to-be-introduced parking fees were earmarked for the estate.

Councillor Rachel Sunderland (Lib Dem, Bolton and Undercliffe) whose ward covers Peel Park, said: “It’s disappointing, obviously, that it has no longer got Green Flag status but it has been recognised that it has been deteriorating and there is now a merry band of volunteers trying to sort this out.”

Cllr Sunderland said while staff did a good job, Peel Park had lost flower beds as council budgets reduced and they were now looking into ways of attracting funding from other sources.

A Bradford Council spokesman, said: “Whilst it is excellent news that four of our wonderful parks have once again been awarded Green Flag status, we are disappointed that the judges felt that two of our parks didn’t quite to come up to scratch.

“With tough budgets we are still doing our best to make sure that our parks and green spaces including these parks are beautiful spaces for our residents to enjoy.

“The judges raised a number of small areas where Peel Park didn’t meet the criteria in one element of the awards process and we have been given the opportunity to address the issues and invite them back to view progress.

“We are hopeful that we can satisfy the judging criteria and the award will be retained for Peel Park.”

Across the wider area, Green Flags were given to Oakwell Hall Country Park in Birstall, Otley Chevin and Pudsey Park in Leeds and Bailiff Bridge Memorial Park, Ogden Water and Wellholme Park, all near Brighouse.