Newbridge Linear Park and the Zero Waste Community Garden in Rathcoffey awarded green flags

Newbridge Linear Park and the Zero Waste Community Garden in Rathcoffey were awarded green flags in An Taisce’s 2024 Green Flag Awards, which were announced in early November.

Both sites are managed by two very dedicated and committed community groups.

Newbridge Linear Park is managed and maintained by Newbridge Tidy Towns and the Zero Waste Garden is maintained by the Zero Waste Garden Committee.

Kildare County Council works in partnership with both groups to assist with the management of the sites.

This is the 9^th consecutive Green Flag Award for the Liffey Linear Park and the 5^th for the Zero Waste Garden.

The international Green Flag Award was awarded to 120 parks, gardens, greenways and wildlife sanctuaries around the country.

The award acknowledges excellence in the management of those green spaces which are freely open to the public.

The Green Flag Award is the international quality benchmark for the public green space sector - now operating in 19 countries around the world.

Running for over 25 years, the programme uses eight key criteria, with an emphasis on environmental management, for its assessment.

All sites implement a management framework, and then undergo an annual inspection conducted by qualified judges.

In Ireland, An Taisce Environmental Education is the national operator, and has delivered the Green Flag Award since 2016.