ECO-CONSIOUS council bosses are calling on residents to get outdoors in a bid to support a national parks campaign.

Braintree Council says it is supporting Keep Britain Tidy’s national ‘Love Parks Week’ campaign.

The campaign encourages people to get outdoors, and enjoy the benefits and beauty of local parks and green spaces. 

Running from Friday, July 29 to August 5, Love Parks Week will focus on celebrating the hard work that goes into maintaining parks and green spaces and highlighting how valuable they are to people in the local communities. 

Working in partnership with local parish and town councils, Braintree Council has a horticultural team of 30 members of staff who, alongside many individuals and groups of dedicated volunteers, maintain the district’s council owned parks.

The Council’s team of Green Heart Champions are a group of volunteers of all ages.

Braintree Council says it is also regularly reviewing and updating the play areas in the district with new play equipment, including adding new play equipment.

Halstead Public Gardens had a new range of play equipment installed and there are outdoors gyms located in paks for people to benefit from.

Wendy Schmitt, environment boss, said: “We are delighted to be taking part in the Love Parks Week initiative, which is a great opportunity to celebrate how much we are all benefiting from our parks and green spaces, and the many uses they offer- from a place to exercise, relax and socialise, to a chance for children to play and our pets to enjoy themselves too.

“We are very proud of the many parks and open spaces we have in our district. It is now more important than ever to support our parks and open spaces.”

This year, Keep Britain Tidy has also teamed up with Regatta to offer four people £250 worth of Regatta gear each.

To enter, you need to answer the question ‘Who loves the park more - kids or dogs?’

To find out more and enter the competition, visit keepbritaintidy.org/home.