It's time to love your park!

IT’S national Love Parks Week and Warrington Borough Council is inviting residents to “Tweet what you love” about Warrington’s parks or open spaces.
They want local people to tell them about their favourite local green space, or their happiest memory of it – or just tweet a photograph of themselves enjoying during Love Parks Week.”
But they should remember to use hashtag #loveparksweek.
The borough council’s executive member for leisure, community and culture, Cllr Kate Hannon, (pictured) said: “Warrington is proud of its parks and open spaces. The council will soon be launching a major consultation to involve residents in shaping the future of our parks, which will involve considerable investment.
“But in the meantime, we just hope people are taking advantage of the summer to enjoy our local green space.”
Cllr Hannon added: “Parks and open spaces have a vital role to play not just in people’s enjoyment and leisure time, but in promoting better health.”
According to the NHS people living closer to green space tend to have lower death rates and less heart disease.
People who live within 500 metres of accessible green space are 24 per cent more likely to meet the recommended levels of physical activity.
People living closer to green spaces tend to be more physically active and less likely to be overweight or obese than people living furthest from public parks, who are 27 per cent more likely to be overweight or obese.
Environmental volunteering, including tree planting, can be as effective as aerobics in improving fitness.
An estimated £2.1bn could be saved every year in health costs if every household in the country had access to quality green spaces.