Blooming successes for Aberdeen
08 November 2017
Staff and volunteers are to be thanked at a special reception from Aberdeen Lord Provost Barney Crockett for their contribution to the city having had a bumper crop of a year of awards for its parks, gardens and green spaces.
The members of the communities, housing and infrastructure committee heard about the successes the city, its partners and volunteers have enjoyed this year.
Aberdeen was awarded a Gold Medal in the Champion of Champions category at the prestigious Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Britain in Bloom UK Finals Awards held in Llandudno, North Wales, on 27 October.
Aberdeen’s gold medal, the highest available, confirms its position as one of the greenest and most beautiful cities in Britain. Seaton Park won the Parks and Green Spaces award.
The judges noted that in addition to the look and feel of a 'pristine park', Seaton Park includes a range of flood mitigation measures, 'an impressive range of trees and shrubs across the whole park, wide successional planting and some outstanding specimen trees.' It also hosts a suite of activities to suit people from all parts of the community.
Aberdeen received a resounding 11 awards at the 51st annual Beautiful Scotland awards. Aberdeen received a Gold Award and was named as the City Category overall winner, and Aberdeen was also presented with the Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society Award for our fantastic horticulture and green spaces.
Powis Residents Group received a Gold Award and were named as the Residential Community Category overall winner. Dyce in Bloom also received a Gold Award and were overall Best Urban Community winners.
The other Aberdeen award winners were Aberdeen Inspired (Silver Gilt Award), Brighter Bucksburn (Silver Award), Cove in Bloom (Silver Gilt Award), and Aberdeen Inspired was also presented with the VisitScotland Award for Tourism for the Nuart Aberdeen Street Art Festival.
Aberdeen City Council communities, housing and infrastructure convener Councillor Yvonne Allan said: “These are fantastic successes for the City Council, our parks and gardens staff, our partners and all the community groups and volunteers which make these the beautiful places they are.
“I am delighted to announce there’s going to be a thank you reception at a later date so all the hard work and effort over the last year can be rewarded.”
The committee members unanimously agree to acknowledge the awards and give thanks and congratulations to everyone who took part, agreed for the city to take part in the 2018 Beautiful Scotland campaign, and agreed for the City Council’s environmental services team to continue to support and develop community partnerships and projects.