For the first time Positively Putney BID entered Putney town centre in the London in Bloom awards. The awards are not as the name suggests just about pretty flowers but also looking after the environment and the community involvement in an area. We felt that Putney is strong in these areas and so decided to enter. Looking at the marking criteria we also felt it would be a good learning tool to see how the town centre was viewed from an outsider.
On a sunny Monday in July, we showed judge Mark Wasilewski around the town centre discussing the projects that we and other stakeholders had worked on over the last two years. We were joined by a representative from local amenity group, Putney Society, and the Putney Tidy Towpath group.
The three areas for marking are horticulture (maintenance, seasonal, plant quality), environment (local identity, built environment, environmental quality), and community (year round activity, communication and awareness, support and funding). Each element is marked out of 10 totalling 90 with up to a final ten points for overall impression.
We are delighted that we have been awarded a silver gilt award. For those who don’t know this is between a silver and a gold award. We scored 76 out of 100. The judges report was very complementary about what has been achieved, especially with the additional challenges that COVID has brought. It also includes a number of recommendations to making the Putney environment better by increasing planting, and green spaces. We hope that we are given the opportunity to implement these recommendations and can enter again in 2022.
Congratulations to Orpington 1st BID for achieving a gold award and winning our category for BIDs, Town Centres and Urban Communities.