Analysis: No prizes - but organisers may be cashing in

THIRTY-FOUR Scottish parks have received the Green Flag award, which sounds like terrific news. But what did the parks actually have to do to gain this pseudo-environmental recognition? Does an award with a "green" label actually signify that something substantially "environmental" has been achieved?

The Green Flag award is a UK scheme for parks and green spaces. If you scratch the surface of the scheme's website you find out that it costs applicants to apply for the award - up to 800 each for parks and green spaces in Scotland, but more typically 300 for each property. This must be paid every year to enter the award, so there's a fair bit of income flowing into the organisers' coffers each year, and a large proportion of this would seem to be from public funds.

The success rate for Green Flag awards also seems high, which either means our parks are in great shape, or the judging criteria are easily met. I suspect, with the significant amounts of money to be made from administering the scheme alone, that the latter may be the case.

Is the Green Flag award itself environmentally sound? Well, environmental issues are not prominent among the award's judging criteria. They do crop up under sustainability, and even there they are as basic as the park having an "environmental policy", "minimising" the use of pesticides and having "energy conservation, pollution reduction, waste recycling and resource conservation measures" in place. This sounds quite decent on paper, but represents a catch-all approach to land management and public access. Much of what is being rewarded can be "delivered" without a lot in the way of resource and commitment on the ground to back it up.

It's very welcome that Scotland's parks are being recognised as being of a perceived high standard, but shouldn't that be the case anyway? Isn't that what councils are there to deliver as a basic output on a day-to-day basis? Surely the best reward is that local people and visitors enjoy the many benefits of parks and public green spaces on a daily basis? A certificate and flag might be nice to have, but at what cost to those who might rather see the money spent on maintaining that space instead?

• Per Fischer is communications officer for Friends of the Earth Scotland