All public parks are being kept open over the festive season in the East End from Christmas Eve right through to Boxing Day, Tower Hamlets Council has decided.

%image(14919721, type="article-full", alt="Countryside? No... this is the stunning landscape of Mile End Park alongside the Regent's Canal, in the heart of the East End's built-up urban environment. Picture: Kois Miah")

Even Christmas Day will have access to all 120 park facilities, including the award-winning Victoria Park which has been voted three times Britain's top public open space.

Council staff are working through the holiday following public demand to keep them open.

It follows consultations when households told the town hall they want parks open on Christmas Day itself so families can go for walks.

%image(14919722, type="article-full", alt="One of the "great lakes" at east London's 'Green Flag' award-winning Victoria Park. Picture: Kois Miah")

"We manage 120 parks and green spaces," the council's Leisure and Culture director Judith St John said.

"People can use them all through the festive season including Christmas Day, all treasured by the community from small open spaces to parks of national repute, like the fabulous Mile End Park and the majestic Victoria Park."

Twelve parks and green spaces now have Green Flag status, more than Tower Hamlets has ever had.

The local authority regards them as the East End's "gift of nature on our doorstep" which enhance biodiversity in one of London's most condensed, built-up urban areas.