Southampton City Council is celebrating after retaining Green Flag Award status for all 11 of its award-winning parks and green spaces, recognising the city's continued commitment to providing high-quality, welcoming places for residents and visitors to enjoy.
The Green Flag Award is the international quality mark for parks and green spaces, recognising sites that are well managed, accessible, safe and environmentally sustainable. The awards are benchmarked against national standards, with judges assessing everything from maintenance and cleanliness to biodiversity, community involvement and long-term management.
Southampton's 11 Green Flag Award sites for 2026 are:
Cedar Lodge Park
Freemantle Lake Park
Mansel Park
Mayfield Park
Millers Pond
Peartree Common Local Nature Reserve
Portswood Recreation Ground
Riverside Park
Southampton's Central Parks
St James' Park
Town Quay Park
The achievement reflects the dedication of council teams and volunteers who work throughout the year to keep Southampton's green spaces looking their best and providing places where people can relax, exercise, connect with nature and spend time with family and friends.
The city's Parks and Street Cleansing teams, Landscape and Play team, Citywide Task team, Tree team, Ranger team and Safety Hub all play a role in maintaining the sites, alongside Southampton's network of Friends groups and volunteers who give their time to support and champion local parks.
Councillor John Savage, Cabinet Member for Environment and Net Zero, said:
Retaining all 11 Green Flag Awards is a fantastic achievement and something Southampton can be incredibly proud of.
These awards recognise the hard work that takes place every day to keep our parks and green spaces clean, safe, accessible and environmentally rich. They also highlight the importance of partnership working, with council staff, volunteers and Friends groups all playing a vital role in caring for these valued community spaces.
Our parks contribute enormously to the health and wellbeing of residents, provide important habitats for wildlife and help bring communities together. To retain all 11 awards once again demonstrates the consistently high standards being delivered across the city.
I'd like to thank everyone involved in helping us achieve this success and encourage residents to come along to the flag-raising ceremony on Friday as we celebrate another excellent year for Southampton's parks.
Southampton received its first Green Flag Award in 2006 and has continued to build on that success by investing in and improving its parks and green spaces. Green Flag status is reviewed annually, with each site required to undergo regular assessment to ensure standards are maintained.
Residents can find out more about Southampton's parks and green spaces on the council website.