Working with Fields in Trust, The City of Edinburgh Council hopes to protect a further 19 green spaces forever - taking their total to 55 local parks. This will ensure nearly all the city's residents live no more than a ten-minute walk from a protected green space.
How will this benefit residents of Edinburgh?
In May 2021, The City of Edinburgh Council announced they would protect a further 19 of their local green spaces with Fields in Trust. These spaces will serve communities who do not have one of the 36 spaces already protected by the Council close to home and once completed will ensure nearly everybody in the city has a legally protected park or green space within a ten-minute walk of where they live.
Read the announcement
The commitment was announced by TRH The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge at an event in Starbank Park in Edinburgh
From the beneficiaries
Users of Edinburgh's parks feature in our new video highlighting the importance of local green spaces
Green Space Index
The latest Index informed an evidence-led approach to protecting green spaces for good in Edinburgh
"I talk to people that are in their seventies and eighties and can remember sitting in the park when they were students. I hope future generations will continue to use it and enjoy it."
Memories are made in our parks. Help us protect them.
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Why is action to protect green spaces for good needed?
Parks and green spaces are not a statutory service, meaning local councils have no obligation to provide them for their residents. Without protection parks can so easily be lost. What is lost isn't just the green space though, it is the positive physical health, mental wellbeing, community and environmental benefits that are also lost.
Green spaces are good and they do good. It's something we all instinctively know. It's also something backed up by our own original research - Revaluing Parks and Green Spaces found that the Wellbeing Value associated with the frequent use of local parks and green spaces is worth £34.2 billion per year to the entire UK adult population. However these benefits are not currently equitably distributed.
Almost two-thirds of people in Edinburgh live in flats compared to an average of one in five across the UK.
One in seven people in Edinburgh have no access to a private or shared garden, higher than the national average of one in eight.
The city's population is set to grow 10.4% over the next two decades, making action to protect green space now vital.
The City of Edinburgh Council will protect a further 19 green spaces for good, adding to the 36 spaces already protected.
We have an established track record of using location and demographic insights to contribute to better informed policy decisions and help protect parks and green spaces for good where they will have the greatest impact on the communities. Find out how we use data for good.
"Coming to the park was a place where I could just be myself. I could just feel comfortable with myself at a point in my life where I wasn't really comfortable with anything else."
Memories are made in our parks. Help us protect them.
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Which parks near me in Edinburgh will be protected?
There are already 36 parks and green spaces across Edinburgh protected forever with Fields in Trust. The City of Edinburgh Council will protect a further 19 spaces serving communities who do not currently have a protected green space close to home.
Impact of additional portfolio
Once the latest phase of protections is completed nearly everyone in Edinburgh will live within a ten-minute walk of a green space which is legally protected for good.
Additional candidate spaces for protection
The additional spaces being protected include spaces across the city, such as Clermiston Park, Gyle Park and Ratho Station Park. Explore the candidate portfolio of additional spaces to be protected using the resource below or clicking here.
Whether you're a resident of Edinburgh who will benefit from protected green space forever or live in another local authority and would like to see your council adopt a similar vision there's plenty you can do to get involved.
What does protection mean for parks in Edinburgh?
Fields in Trust have been protecting parks ever since our founding as a charity in 1925. In that time we've nearly 3,000 green spaces for good across the UK. The City of Edinburgh Council protected their first green space with Fields in Trust - King George V Park in South Queensferry in 1939. In the time since the Council has protected 36 spaces across the city with Fields in Trust.
Protection is a legal agreement between Fields in Trust and a space's landowner that they will retain it for use as a green space in perpetuity. Ownership and management of the space remains locally with the existing landowner, ensuring the local community remain fully involved with the space. Our protection is robust yet flexible to ensure the needs of the community can be met as they evolve in the future.
Fields in Trust champions and supports the parks and green spaces we love by protecting them for you to enjoy, forever. Because once lost, a green space is lost forever.
We are an independent charity with nearly 100 years’ experience protecting parks and green spaces. We already protect nearly 3,000 such spaces across the UK, benefitting over 14 million people. With your help, we can secure the futures of many more and ensure the greatest impact for communities who need them the most.