AWARD ANNOUNCED!

Parks and Leisure Australia (PLA) and environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy are entering into a partnership to administer the internationally recognised Green Flag Award programme in Australia.

CEO of PLA Mark Band recently met with staff from Keep Britain Tidy, which administers the programme on behalf of the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) in the UK and said:

"This is an exciting opportunity for PLA to be part of a well-established and internationally recognised award programme for park management."

Acknowledging that the programme has already been successfully piloted in Australia under former 'Parks Forum' agency, and a number of parks have already achieved 'Green Flag’ status, PLA is looking forward to delivering the scheme and bringing together the many individual assessors and processes under its banner."

Paul Todd from the Green Flag Award Programme said: "We are delighted to be entering into a partnership with PLA as this provides a great opportunity for Australia to benefit from an internationally recognised programme that has been established since 1996 and has 1881 parks flying a Green Flag Award across 13 countries.

“We also hope that the expansion of the scheme in Australia will provide further opportunities for parks professionals from around the world to share experiences and good practice"

The New Zealand Recreation Association (NZRA) are also working towards a licence to administer the programme and it is envisaged that training and collaboration will be undertaken between the two organisations to roll out the programme efficiently across both countries.

Plans for the future development of the Award will be outlined at the upcoming national conference on the Gold Coast in October.

For further information, contact the PLA admin@parksleisure.com.au or 08 8332 0130