Tuesday June 9th 2026
Edinburgh skyline
Written by Midlothian View Reporter, Liam Eunson
The City of Edinburgh Councillors have voted against the Scottish Greens plans to open up some of the city’s private shared gardens, turning down the party’s call to expand the capital’s accessible green space.
With the Greens describing the decision as ‘squandering an opportunity to improve public access’, the motion put forward at a meeting of the Culture and Communities Committee yesterday looked to start a process that will help open up some of the ‘most beautiful’ shared private garden spaces for public access.
Lodged by Scottish Greens communities spokesperson, Councillor Dan Heap, he proposed to open these spaces by asking owners to make the decision highlighting that the council would have no legal power to enforce it.
In Edinburgh, many properties, mainly in New Town, have private garden spaces disconnected from the property often across the road.
Using data from the Scottish Household Survey that highlighted that adults from the most deprived fifth of Scotland are 13% less likely to have access to green or blue spaces, the Greens urged the committee meeting to consider asking owners to open gardens with ‘community spirit’ in mind.
Councillor Heap’s motion was voted against with 6 councillors voting for the amendment and 5 for the motion. SNP Councillor Amy McNeese Mechan and Scottish Greens Councillor Alys Mumford showed strong support for Councillor Heap’s motion.
Prior to yesterday’s meeting, Councillor Heap explained:
“The health benefits of green areas are clear, yet some people in our city don’t have good access to gardens or parks.
“At the same time, large green spaces such as those on Queen Street are closed to the public.
“They are unhelpfully called gardens, but are comparable to public parks in terms of their size. Queen Street Gardens, for example, is almost 20 acres.
“We are suggesting the Council explore with owners where these might be opened up to public use.
“This is by no means an experimental idea. St Andrew’s square is a private garden, but the public have rightly had access to it since 2008.”
Scottish Greens MSP for Edinburgh Central Lorna Slater supported the call, explaining:
“The people living and working in built up areas across Edinburgh deserve to be able to spend time in green spaces, but the very nature of city life means that some people don’t have their own garden to enjoy.
“These green spaces could be transformative if we allow public access. It is an opportunity to let people spend more time in nature, and I am delighted that Green councillors are bringing this proposal.”
Providing the example of St Andrew’s Square which prior to 2008 was a private garden, Convener Councillor Margaret Graham explained that her view was completely the verse and proposed no action for ‘several reasons’, highlighting that St Andrew’s Square is mainly businesses with a loc of private residents so it was easier to make publicly accessible.
In the meeting she explained:
“These are gardens, these are the green spaces that connect homes and although they aren’t directly connected to people’s houses, it is still their garden space.
She continued: “I am in the fortunate position where my garden is connected directly to my house. Some people in town houses in the new town, there are 4 families in one block where previously these buildings when they were built it would be one family. Some of them live in basements, I am quite sure there could be improvements in the way that these are managed and how people in the new town are allowed to use these, and I think that is something that could be taken up voluntarily through the street committees, etc.
“I don’t think it is something that we as a council should be involving ourselves in.”
The Green Party said that the proposal ‘could have helped tackle unequal access to green space in Edinburgh, particularly for people living in tenements, flats and built-up areas without gardens of their own”, with Councillor Mumford who agreed with Councillor Heaps motion explaining that many people share these views highlighting it as ‘an issue of equality’.
She said: “These are huge spaces with massive potential for re-wilding, nature restoration but the main point for me is that access to nature is vital for all of our residents and visitors for their menstrual health and wellbeing, not just those with a key.”
With Edinburgh labelled as a very green city, there are many public parks accessible to almost every community within the city. This was highlighted by Councillor Graham who explained:
“The motion talks about green space, Edinburgh is one of the greenest cities and every community within our city has access to excellent parks and green spaces. We don’t have communities in the city that don’t have access in some ways to these spaces.”
Scottish Conservative Councillor Tim Jones said the motion sounds like a ‘land grab’ that went against conservative principles and ‘must be vigorously opposed’.
Lib Dem Councillor Edward Thornley also shared strong opinions on the motion, explaining:
“Call me crazy but I want the council’s parks and green spaces officers to be focused on improving the council’s parks and green spaces. To my mind the best way we can tackle inequality is to ensure that our parks are as accessible and fantastic as they can be.”
Following the council’s decision, Scottish Green’s expressed their disappointment, describing the decision as ‘missed opportunity for Edinburgh’.
Lorna Slater said: “Everyone in Edinburgh should be able to access nature and enjoy the health and wellbeing benefits that come with it, whether or not they have a garden of their own.
“As an Edinburgh MSP, I know how precious our city’s green spaces are. Opening up more of them, even on a limited and voluntary basis, would make a real difference for people living and working in built-up communities.
“While Labour, the Tories and the Lib Dems have chosen to protect exclusive access for some of Edinburgh’s wealthiest residents, rather than even explore a modest proposal to share more of the city’s green space, the Scottish Greens will keep working for a city that works for everyone, not just those with the wealth to live beside park-sized private gardens.”
Councillor Heap added: Our proposal was modest, practical and rooted in common-sense.
“We were not asking the Council to force gardens open. We were asking officials to explore how a voluntary scheme could work, with proper support for owners around maintenance, cleaning and insurance.
“Edinburgh should be a city that works for everyone, not just those wealthy enough to live beside park-sized private gardens. Greens will keep working for a fairer city where access to nature is based on need, not property wealth.”
During the meeting despite going against the motion, Scottish Labour Councillor Lezley Marion Cameron, explained that the discussion was positive. She was part of the team who made St Andrew’s Square publicly accessible back in 2008 which first began to be discussed in council 5 years prior in 2003 when Christmas lights were installed in the square. She explained that despite the conversation being positive and important to be raised as it could result in more green space in the future, the council has more important issues to deal with such as housing and homelessness.
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