The council and its partners are again celebrating the retention of the Green Flag awards - the international quality mark for parks and green spaces.

Hatherley Park, Montpellier Gardens, Naunton Park, Pittville Park, Springfields Park and Winston Churchill Memorial Gardens are six of 2,208 UK winners.

The award is the international quality mark for parks and green spaces.

After two years that have seen our parks and green spaces play a vital role for people through lockdowns as a place to relax, exercise and meet friends and family safely, the news that all these parks have achieved the Green Flag Award is testament to the hard work and dedication of the team that make the green space a great space that everyone can enjoy.

Pittville Park has also achieved the Green Heritage Site Accreditation, supported by Historic England, for the management of its historic features.

Peter Jarrett, chair of the Friends of Winston Churchill Memorial Gardens, said: "The Friends of Winston Churchill Memorial Garden are delighted to have our Green Flag status awarded for yet another year.

"We were particularly pleased that the judges recognised the extremely difficult challenges we faced following lockdown and the affect this had on many of the projects planned for the park. All efforts will now the focused on bringing these projects to fruition"

Chris Archibald, chair of the Friends of Pittville Park, said: "It is great news that Pittville Park has again been awarded Green Flag status and has retained its Green Heritage Site Accreditation.

"The Friends of Pittville look forward to working with the council's green space team in the next year to help maintain the high standards of care the park receives."

Adam Reynolds, green space manager for Cheltenham Borough Council, said: "We are absolutely delighted to receive a Green Flag Award again for so many of our green spaces and to have once again retained our Green Heritage Award for Pittville Park.

"The awards give us an enormous sense of pride and is an excellent example of community achievement celebrating the dedication from our volunteers, friend of groups, green space team, UBICO grounds maintenance and cleansing team and many others who work hard to maintain these beautiful areas to such a high standard.''

Paul Todd, accreditation manager of Green Flag Award standard, Keep Britain Tidy, said: "I would like to congratulate everyone involved in making these parks and gardens worthy of a Green Flag Award.

"This award is testament to all the hard work of staff and volunteers, who do so much to ensure that it maintains the high standards demanded by the Green Flag Award."

The Green Flag Award scheme, managed by environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy under licence from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, recognises and rewards well-managed parks and green spaces, setting the benchmark standard for the management of green spaces across the United Kingdom and around the world.