The green space is managed by volunteers at the Edmonton regeneration site

TCV volunteers at the Meridian One Community Garden celebrate the Green Flag Award (credit TCV)

Volunteers managing a green space for growing food at Edmonton’s Meridian Water regeneration site have been rewarded for their hard work with a prestigious award.

The Green Flag Award recognises Britain’s best parks and other green spaces, and the 2025 list of winners includes Meridian One Community Garden, managed by The Conservation Volunteers (TCV).

Although the space is only temporary and will later be built on as part of Enfield Council’s plans for 10,000 homes at Meridian Water, TCV has spent the past few years creating room for local residents to “grow and share food together” at the community garden.

The site is one of 2,250 in the UK to achieve this year’s Green Flag Award, which is the “international quality mark for parks and green spaces”. In Enfield, there are now three such spaces, with Forty Hall Estate (managed by Enfield Council) and Myddelton House Gardens (managed by Lee Valley Regional Park Authority) being the other two.

TCV is a national environmental volunteering charity “working to connect people and green spaces to deliver lasting outcomes for both”.

Charlie Nwanodi, senior project officer for TCV based at Meridian One Community Garden, said: “TCV’s Meridian One Community Garden opened in 2022 as a green space for us to learn, grow and share food together, lovingly tended to by the local community. I’m so proud that the garden has been recognised for this amazing award. It shows what you can achieve with the love and care poured into the space by our staff, volunteers and visitors combined with the help of Enfield Council and [developer] Vistry.”

Green Flag Award scheme manager Paul Todd MBE added: “Congratulations to everyone involved in TCV’s Meridian One Community Garden who have worked tirelessly to ensure that it achieves the high standards required for the Green Flag Award.

“Quality parks and green spaces like TCV’s Meridian One Community Garden make the country a heathier place to live and work in, and a stronger place in which to invest.

“Crucially, TCV’s Meridian One Community Garden is a vital green space for communities in Enfield to enjoy nature, and during the ongoing cost of living crisis it is a free and safe space for families to socialise. It also provides important opportunities for local people and visitors to reap the physical and mental health benefits of green space.”

The Green Flag Award scheme, managed by environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy under licence from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, 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”.

Enfield Council was previously criticised for still only having one Green Flag Award for its parks, despite promising to increase the number.

No news is bad news

Independent news outlets like ours – reporting for the community without rich backers – are under threat of closure, turning British towns into news deserts.

The audiences they serve know less, understand less, and can do less.

If our coverage has helped you understand our community a little bit better, please consider supporting us with a monthly, yearly or one-off donation.

Choose the news. Don’t lose the news.

Monthly direct debit

Annual direct debit

£5 per month supporters get a digital copy of each month’s paper before anyone else, £10 per month supporters get a digital copy of each month’s paper before anyone else and a print copy posted to them each month. £50 annual supporters get a digital copy of each month's paper before anyone else.