DARTMOUTH Green Partnerships is celebrating after receiving a Green Flag Community Award for a second year, for the Dartmouth Community Garden and Greenhouse.

And the group of volunteer gardeners is working hard to tidy up the rest of the town.

This year it was one of only 14 community gardens in the whole of the South West, and the only one in Devon, to win this coveted award. The award is the international quality mark for parks and green spaces.

Stevie Rogers, chairman of Dartmouth Green Partnerships, said: “We’re delighted to win this award for the second year. We’ve continued to make improvements to the Dartmouth Community Garden and all the green spaces in the town we care for – new planters feature special displays for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee; one of our donated boats features plants suited to shade; the benches and boats have been painted by volunteers, and work is currently under way to erect the Community Greenhouse for which we have raised funds over several years.”

The Green Flag Award scheme is managed by environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy under licence from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. It 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. A spokesperson for the charity said parks play a vital role, especially during the last two years through lockdowns as a place to relax, exercise and meet friends and family safely

Paul Todd, Keep Britain Tidy’s Accreditation Manager, said: “I’d like to congratulate everyone involved in making this green space worthy of a Green Flag Award. The Dartmouth Community Garden is a vital green space for the community in Dartmouth. This award is testament to all the hard work of volunteers who do so much to ensure that it maintains the high standards demanded by the Green Flag Award.”

Elsewhere in the town the Dartmouth Green Partnership volunteer gardeners have been taking action to tidy up as “an example of civic pride” instead of “complaining about the weeds and overgrown areas in the town”

Chairman Stevie Rogers said: “We take a pride in Dartmouth and want to make it look its best. The weeds along the riverfront spoil this beautiful place.

“With the financial support of our district and county councillors, Jonathan Hawkins, Rosemary Rowe and Hilary Bastone, we’ve purchased a variety of weed killing equipment and employed a qualified operator to treat weeds along the South Hams District Council embankment and Bayard’s Cove. The first attack on these weeds happened on July 18. They will now be dying off.

“We’re also in discussion with Devon County Council Highways regarding kerbside and pavement weeds. Our intention is to provide DCC training for a few selected volunteers to be qualified and authorised to work in these areas.”

Stevie said Dartmouth Green Partnerships is also in the process of negotiating an application for funding to improve the town’s green verges and their maintenance.

She added: “We intend to plant clusters of bulbs and wildflowers this autumn, to enhance the highway verges into the town for the enjoyment of people and for the benefit of wildlife, extending our river of daffodils along College Way. We’ll be posting more details of this work later as help will be needed. You may have noticed that we’ve already negotiated the cutting of the overgrowth along the daffodil side of College Way.”