Edinburgh is the only town of Scotland where middle of the city is full of huge massive parks that are completely off limits for the general public and often even for people living in the same area.

Some of the private parks are absolutely huge. Just the Regent, Royal and Carlton Terrace Gardens are taking over a 4.8-hectare (12-acre) site.

Every park has its own access scheme, but all of them are effectively private and at best would allow a limited amount of applications from residents at the immediately adjacent streets. Often there is also a clear bias towards "more successful" streets of town that are eligible to apply.

Comparison to a "small private garden" situation doesn't really hold here since these massive private parks are detached from the houses, are in front of those houses, and are located in the very much central Edinburgh. This creates situations when pedestrian navigation and movement in central Edinburgh is blocked by locked access to those private parks - like in the case with Deans Gardens if you are trying to get from Eton Terrace to Dean Terrace - a quick shortcut via gardens, but a massive walkaround otherwise.

The Guardian write up even suggests this practice being a for of apartheid - and it truly is, quite literally keeping some residents of our town "apart" from others, less lucky ones.

This petition proposes free access to all New Town private gardens for residents of Edinburgh and a scheme to allow guests of our city to visit the gardens too.

If we look at Scandinavia, where similar laws are implemented, with the right of roam in particular - all city centers are free of fences and especially of huge private parks in the middle of a capital city. Enabling everyone else to enjoy these huge vast green spaces at the heart of our capital would only bring benefits to our country and improve the image of being truly open for everyone.

Related links:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Town_Gardens
https://www.theguardian.com/edinburgh/2011/feb/04/edinburgh-private-parks-david-hill
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regent,_Royal_and_Carlton_Terrace_Gardens
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_Gardens,_Edinburgh