Penlan Park in Llandeilo has just been awarded Carmarthenshire’s first Green Flag after the park was entered into the scheme last January by Gerwyn Thomas of Streetscene. The Green Flag Award is the national standard for parks and green spaces in England and Wales. The award scheme began in 1996 and a site flying a Green Flag has come to be recognised as a high-quality green space with high environmental standards.

The key criteria for a Green Flag include a welcoming and safe place, which is clean and well maintained. Particular attention should be paid to conservation, heritage and community involvement.

In terms of sustainability, methods used in maintaining the park should be environmentally sound. For example an environmental management strategy should be in place where pesticide use is minimised and justified. Horticultural peat use should be eliminated. Waste plant material in the park should be recycled and high horticultural and arboricultural standards should be demonstrated. Energy conservation, pollution reduction, waste recycling, and resource conservation measures should all be used.
Some of the innovations that have been carried out at Penlan Park have included the creation of a summer meadow around the closely mown amenity areas. It is hoped that some of the cut hay can be used for allotments nearby, or used as compost heaps and habitat piles in the park. A couple of small areas in the park are to be left uncut for a few years and then cut in rotation to allow small mammals and botanical interest to develop. The woodland on the lower slopes is already managed for conservation as the park in next door to Castle Woods Wildlife Trust reserve. Information panels highlighting sustainability and wildlife are to be erected for the meadow and woodland whilst it is hoped that local schools will make an annual visit to the park to learn about wildlife in the park and how the park is managed. Monitoring the wildlife in the park is also important and records are being kept of these changes. The Llanelli Naturalists and Wildlife Trust have already held a meeting in the park and it is hoped that other groups will visit the park.

Finally the Green Flag award should ensure that Penlan Park remains in a healthy and sustainable condition and home to many plants and animals for future generations to enjoy as a park of the future.