Richmond's entries in the annual competition resulted in the coveted Borough of the Year award and gold awards for York House Gardens, Terrace Gardens and the City B categories with second place positions for overall Biodiversity and for Barnes Common. Twickenham Town Centre also received high praise with a Silver Gilt accolade.
Cllr Virginia Morris, Richmond Council’s Strategic Cabinet Member for Environment and Planning said: “Last year I said that one of our main priorities is to ensure that Richmond upon Thames is recognised as a ‘flowered borough’ and I am pleased that we have now officially achieved that aim.
“Over the last few years we have gone from strength to strength in the London in Bloom awards and everyone’s efforts have finally paid off with our best results ever. There have been hundreds of people involved and all the hard work and pride of everyone who has maintained gardens, hanging baskets or window boxes has been recognised.
“I would like to thank all the Council officers in our parks service and the grounds maintenance contractor Veolia for all their efforts. Particularly I would also like to praise the friends and supporters groups which we work well with and who make suggestions about how our open spaces could improve. In their assessment of Barnes Common the judges specifically praised the Friends Group for their efforts to improve the open space.
“Earlier this year we announced significant investment in our parks and open spaces, to increase the already high standards around the borough, and I look forward to continuing working with the community to keep our standards high so we can claim further awards in 2013."
Pat Schooling, Chair of Richmond Borough in Bloom, added: “The Council deserves our congratulations on the Borough achievements across its parks and open spaces. Well done indeed. But we confess that the Richmond Borough in Bloom campaign would like to share in the accolades on behalf of the hugely generous sponsors who have made it possible to beautify our streets with hanging baskets – an important aspect of the London in Bloom award.
"Without the help of big names like eBay, Serco, Squire’s, Veolia and the RFU it just couldn’t happen. Equally worthy of recognition are the trading associations and small shops who bedeck their properties with floral displays and, of course, the many keen gardeners who ensure residential and community properties of all kinds help to make our environment such a pleasant one in which to live and work.
"The Borough in Bloom campaign has been growing steadily for the last 22 years, so hopefully we can be excused a little self-congratulation over these London in Bloom awards."
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