Newcastle sweeps the board at ‘in Bloom’ awards
Newcastle-under-Lyme has been crowned overall winner of the prestigious Heart of England in Bloom competition for 2023.
The awards saw Newcastle bag first place in the small city category, collect its 21st consecutive gold award and also receive a judge’s discretionary award for outstanding achievement.
Simon Tagg, Leader of Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council, said:
We can be tremendously proud of all the communities which came together to help make Newcastle a more beautiful and sustainable place.
I was so pleased to see Newcastle be presented with the judge’s discretionary award for outstanding achievement, which is testament to the consistent high quality of our entries over our 32-year involvement in the awards – and even more so in this, our 850 celebration year.”
As part of Newcastle’s entry, Queens Gardens was planted with annual bedding on the theme of the 850th celebrations.
To promote sustainability in the town, work has begun on planting 850 native lime trees and town centre roundabouts were provided with pollinators and herbaceous and perennial plants.
Such has been the Council’s consistently high standards, the Borough has won Gold in the regional small city category for 21 years in a row, as well as taking a hat-trick of regional championships in 2017, 2018 and 2019.
In recent years it’s also won the national ‘small city’ title and a gold award in the Champion of Champions round.
Newcastle is also in the RHS Britain in Bloom National Finals for 2023 and will find out the results on 23rd October at the award ceremony in London.
Judging considerations include the range of plant species, diversity and how it supports wildlife; art in the landscape, restoration of habitats and ecological practices; and evidence of year-round activity and community engagement.
This year volunteers have already donated the equivalent of 4,000 hours of work, while 14,662 trees have been planted across 12 sites.
Cllr Tagg continued:
These awards are about bringing residents, businesses, schools and communities together to make a meaningful contribution to sustainability, recycling and energy conservation – to transform previously run down areas for the better, attract wildlife, boost local biodiversity and tackle air pollution.
The overall aim is to make Newcastle a cleaner and greener place to live and visit.”