BURNLEY Council's parks team has been nominated for an award.

The group have been nominated for the best service team of the year at the APSE Service Awards 2017.

The council managed 550 hectares of green space throughout the borough.

A council spokesman said despite an ever decreasing budget, it aims to keep the areas at a high standard.

The council were among 300 submissions from more than 100 organisations across the country.

One of its projects, the Rethinking Burnley's Parks scheme aimed to encourage biodiversity and take a more environmentally-friendly approach.

Cllr John Harbour, the council’s executive member responsible for parks, said:

“People love our parks. They attract thousands of visitors, of all ages, every week and we’re quite rightly very proud of them.

“We need to make sure we look after our parks, not just for our generation but for generations to come.

"That means we have to be more imaginative in the way we properly manage them.

"The fact that we’ve been nominated for this award reflects all the hard work and dedication of our volunteers, parks staff and partners in making Burnley’s parks so brilliant and so popular."

The council has recently extended its meadow management to allow certain green spaces to grow and create a more natural environment for wildlife.

It also works with volunteer and friends of parks groups to encourage people to take part in gardening and keeping their public spaces tidy.

The winners will be announced at a ceremony in Oxford on September 7.