A WIRRAL park has been acknowledged as one of best in the UK.

Dawstone Park, Heswall, has been awarded a Green Flag for the first time following close partnership work between the council and residents.

The Green Flag accolade is the national benchmark standard for public parks and green spaces in the UK.

The award brings the total number of Green Flag Wirral parks and open spaces to 23 - up from 20 last year.

It also means that once again Wirral holds more Green Flags than anywhere else in the North West.

Wirral South Constituency Committee identified Dawstone Park as part of its priority to improve local green spaces in 2015.

They then worked in partnership with householders to set up the Friends of Dawstone Park who help to maintain and improve it.

Wirral Globe:

Frankby Cemetery, Harrison Park and Hamilton Square - pictured above - will also receive the award for the first time this year.

Unfortunately Meols Park did not retain its flag.

Birkenhead Park retained its Green Flag Heritage Award and Tam O’Shanter Urban Farm and New Ferry Butterfly Park kept their Community Awards.

Paul Leidecker, chairman of Friends of Dawstone Park, said: "This is a fantastic achievement for us all.

"The support from the constituency committee has been very helpful right from the start.

"We’ve had a lot of compliments about how the park is looking these days and more than 60 people have already signed up to volunteer to help us to maintain and encourage the community to use the space."

Councillor Tracey Pilgrim who chairs the constituency committee said: "Our ongoing partnership is seeing real environmental benefits for our local communities."

Opened in 1931, Dawstone Park lies between the Lower and Top villages, with panoramic views over to the hills of North Wales.

Parks must apply annually to keep their Green Flag award and winning sites are eligible to fly the flag for a year.