Historic gardens set to remain out of bounds until the summer
One of Edinburgh’s flagship parks is set to remain out of bounds indefinitely after council chiefs decided to put a new drainage system in as part of an overhaul in the wake of the city’s Christmas market.
Council officials are still unable to say when East Princes Street Gardens, which has not been fully open to the public for around 18 months, will be fully restored - 14 weeks after the winter festival ended.
Specialist contractors have been called to overhaul the drainage facilities in the lower gardens two months after they became badly waterlogged after prolonged bad weather.
The introduction of social distancing measures has also held up the work in the gardens, which were expected to be returfed by now. It could now be well into the summer before full access to the lower lawn is restored.
The gardens have not been fully open since work on a revamp of the Scottish National Gallery, included relandscaping a large part of the park, began in the autumn of 2018. Work to resoil and returf new embankments also needs to be finished.
The latest delays have emerged days after the council insisted that its parks would be remaining open as “a haven for us all” during the ongoing lockdown.
A council spokeswoman said: “The gardens are temporarily closed to allow the reinstatement works, as well as improvements to the drainage of the lower lawn, to be completed safely and in line with strict government guidance to ensure the protection of staff and the public. The team is working as quickly as they can in unprecedented times.
“We will reopen sections as soon as it is safe to do so. Whilst we fully recognise the importance of the gardens to city centre residents at this time, we also need to ensure that the reinstatement and drainage improvement works are able to be properly undertaken and the area is protected to allow the turf to fully establish so that the gardens can be enjoyed by all when the time is right. West Princes Street Gardens remain open.
Howevercliffhague,chairof the Cockburn Association heritage watchdog, said: “While the gardens are enjoyed by people from around the world, for many households it is their local park. People are angry with the damage that’s been done, and the disregard for concerns about surrendering much loved green space to commercial purposes.
“After the lockdown we need to unlock our parks from commercial handcuffs and see them instead as vital for community cohesion and wellbeing.”