BURY has won "gold" at the 2015 RHS North West in Bloom finals for the 12th year in a row.

And for the second year running, Bury took the Best Small City award to add to the 10 Best Large Town categories it has won in previous years.

Radcliffe won a silver-gilt in the Best Large Town section, missing out on what would have been a gold award for the fifth consecutive year.

Bury also won a discretionary award for Best Feature in a Public Place for Gallipolli Garden in the heart of Bury's culture quarter.

The latest success follows the national announcement last month that, for the first time, Bury had won the Small City category in the RHS Britain in Bloom finals.

Cllr Tony Isherwood, cabinet member for the environment, said: “These are remarkable results and a credit to everyone involved. Awards like these are not easy to come by and to keep achieving year-on-year represents parks, green spaces and a street scene of the highest regional and national standards.

“Sustaining this level of achievement during such challenging times is even more impressive and results from an exceptional team effort across grounds maintenance, street cleansing, parks and countryside, response teams and highways maintenance as well as a big input from community groups, volunteers and sponsors."

* In July, North West in Bloom judges Bill Blackledge, Brendan Cook and Graham Jones took the opportunity on judging day to officially award North West in Bloom’s Outstanding Contribution Award to Martin Dowding, the council’s head of grounds maintenance. The award was given last year, but Martin was unable to attend the 2014 awards ceremony.