Accessing our parks and greenspaces

The City of Edinburgh Council has a duty to uphold the access rights set down in the Land Reform ( Scotland ) Act 2003.

The Act gives all people a right to access all open spaces for non-motorised travel and recreation and for educational purposes. These rights only exist if the access is 'responsible', which means:

• being considerate of other users,
• not inconveniencing or disrupting the land managers operations, and
• taking responsibility for your own safety.

There are plenty of areas around the City where access rights do not apply such as school grounds, private gardens, industrial premises and sites were a fee has been charged for access such as Edinburgh Zoo.  

Access Rights are fully explained in the Scottish Outdoor Access Code