St Margaret's Park's Bowling Green

Closed 8 Jun 2024

Opened 24 Apr 2024

Contact

thrivinggreenspaces@edinburgh.gov.uk

Results updated 27 Jun 2024

We received a total of 193 responses to the survey. The results showed strong overall support for the proposal and its features, with most respondents agreeing that the proposed design would make the park feel more welcoming and accessible, benefit both people and nature, and meet the needs of the community. 

Key findings from the survey include: 

  • A sensory garden (82%) 
  • Improved surface water management (82%) 
  • Tree planting (84%) 
  • Additional seating (81%) 
  • 78% think that the proposed features will provide benefits to nature and local ecosystems  
  • 80% agreed the design would be good for health and wellbeing 

There were 115 comments. Many used the comments to share support for the design, whilst several others used the comment section to offer other ideas or raise concerns about the features presented. Primarily, comments shared the following: 

  • Considerations about practicality, inclusivity, sustainability, and community engagement.  
  • Requests for dog-friendly areas, teenage spaces, and specific amenities like water fountains, lighting, and public toilets.  
  • Interest in retaining the space as a social recreational area. 

We would like to thank everyone who responded to the consultation. We have already considered the comments and how to reflect them in the design. Where this is not possible, we will explore how other areas of the park can be adapted to accommodate some of these suggestions. 

Files:

Overview

The Thriving Green Spaces team at the City of Edinburgh Council are currently developing proposals for unused Bowling Greens in parks throughout the city. This includes St Margaret’s Park’s bowling green. 

The team has delivered several consultation sessions. Drawing from this feedback, we have developed several ideas for how these spaces could be improved and re-integrated back into the park. Our landscape architects have visually developed these ideas further, and at this stage the City of Edinburgh Council is asking for feedback on these ideas to help refine future proposals.  

The re-opening and improvements of these spaces will provide significant value to the local community, benefitting people who live in or work in the area, as well as those travelling through. 

Why your views matter

We have worked with communities and landscape architects to prepare several ideas for reusing these areas. Now we need your input to refine these ideas. We aim for any improvements to the bowling green spaces to maximise health and wellbeing benefits for local communities. We need to hear your views so that we can incorporate them into plan proposals.  

What happens next

This survey closed on 8 June 2024. Alongside this consultation, we ran tailored workshops with different groups. The information gathered will form a report to be reviewed internally by the City of Edinburgh Council.   

Using the findings from this survey, the ideas presented will be developed in more detail, and will be further refined through additional consultation. After that stage, final designs will be used to support funding applications for construction stages. 

Areas

  • Natural neighbourhood area - Corstorphine
  • Natural neighbourhood area - Corstorphine/Clerwood
  • Natural neighbourhood area - Corstorphine/Craigmount
  • Natural neighbourhood area - Corstorphine/North Gyle
  • Neigbourhood Partnership - Western Edinburgh
  • Ward 6 - Corstorphine/Murrayfield

Audiences

  • Homeless People
  • People with long term conditions
  • People with disabilities
  • Minority Ethnic groups
  • Carers
  • Jobseekers
  • Low income households
  • Older people
  • Businesses
  • Children & Young People
  • Civil and public servants
  • Elected Members
  • Lesbian, gay, bisexual people, Transgender people (LGBT)
  • Men
  • Parents/carers
  • Professionals
  • Residents
  • Road users
  • Students
  • Teaching/Educational staff
  • Visitors
  • Voluntary sector/volunteers
  • Women
  • Taxi Licence holders
  • Amenity groups
  • Architects/designers
  • Built heritage groups
  • Community councils
  • Developers/investors
  • Development management statutory consultees
  • Development planning key agencies
  • Education institutions
  • External councils
  • Housing associations
  • Landowners
  • Libraries
  • Natural heritage/open space
  • Neighbourhood partnerships
  • Planning consultants
  • Professional bodies
  • Scottish Government departments
  • Services/utilities
  • Transport groups
  • Young people
  • Licence holders
  • Employees
  • Licence applicants

Interests

  • Health and Wellbeing
  • Biodiversity
  • Nature
  • Parks and green spaces
  • Conservation
  • Public space
  • Sustainability
  • Net Zero
  • Adaptation
  • Climate Change
  • Carbon emissions