Green Flag Awards Scheme is inviting people to vote for their favourite parks

It's time to select the world's favourite parks! The Green Flag Awards Scheme is inviting people to vote for their favourite parks in the People's Choice Awards. You can find your nearest award-winning parks at www.greenflagaward.org. To vote for your favourite, simply find it on the map and click the vote button. Invite everyone to vote, as well.

Voting opens 1 September and closes 30 September, with the top winning sites being announced on 15 October.

This year, an army of experts awarded a record breaking 2.100 Green Flag Awards to some of the world's very best parks and green spaces. The scheme is now asking the public to vote for their favourites.

There are currently a total of 2096 green spaces that have gained this recognition of excellence at world level and 14 countries included in the "Green label scheme", namely Portugal, Australia, Belgium, UK, Finland, Germany, Mexico, Holland, New Zealand, Scotland and Sweden.

The three sites awarded the "Green Flag" in the city of Porto are The City Park, the Jardim do Passeio Alegre and the Porto Botanical Garden; these venues met the judges criteria, raising the standards of parks and green spaces.

Paul Todd, International Green Flag Award Manager said, "This year we have had more Green Flag Award winning sites than ever before, The People's Choice Award is an opportunity to show how much your favourite park means to you. Make your voice heard and vote now."

Last year saw tens of thousands of people voting for their favourite park, with winners coming from all across the world, from Auckland to Abu Dhabi.

Keep Britain Tidy is a leading environmental charity that cares for the environment on your doorstep. We work to improve the quality of parks and green spaces, eliminate littering and reduce waste. We run programmes including Eco-Schools, the Green Flag Award for parks and green spaces and the Blue Flag/Seaside Awards for beaches. To find out more about Keep Britain Tidy, our programmes and campaigns visit www.keepbritaintidy.org

The Green Flag Awards Scheme (http://greenflagaward.org/) is run by the environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy, under licence from the Department of Communities and Local Government. Keep Britain Tidy licence other organisations in countries around the world to administer the scheme on their behalf.