Vehicles should be kept out of city parks

At Thursday’s Full Council meeting Euan Hyslop, councillor for Drumbrae/Gyle ward has lodged a motion calling for vehicle entrances to Edinburgh’s parks and greenspaces to be secured to prevent cars and vans entering.

Cllr Hyslop says that it is common to see vehicles entering the city’s parks. He believes that the presence of vehicles in greenspaces poses a risk to park users, especially young children, and that it happens too regularly.

He is calling on measures like padlocks and bollards to be used, and is also seeking that the largest council vehicles – over 1.3 tonnes – to be banned from parks altogether.

Cllr Hyslop commented:“I run a café in St Margaret’s Park in Corstorphine and cycle through The Gyle Park every day for work or when taking my son to nursery. In both of these parks there are safety issues at the interface between vehicles and park users. 

“It’s particularly bad in Gyle Park where there are ongoing issues with motorists parking along the road and pavement to David Lloyd Gym, parking on the grass, and even driving across the park green to park next to other park facilities. The risk that this poses to park users is self-evident, and measures need to be taken before there’s a serious incident. 

“Parks should be safe places for all, but the presence of vehicles to the extent that we see in some parks (like the Gyle Park) puts park users – especially young children – at risk.”

The council meeting begins at 10am. The papers are here.