Forget Spaces for People, put park wardens back on The Meadows - Helen Martin

The Meadows has always been a lovely park on the south side of Edinburgh. Way back, when I was a child, it had park wardens as did Princes Street Gardens and other areas.

Huge crowds gathered at the Meadows this week

In more recent years it’s had fairgrounds, marquee theatres, lots of sports teams, sales and political festivals, sun-bathing and picnic groups, and more.

But it’s now become a locality for drugs and drinks, barbecues, fights and who knows what else from young people who don’t even wear masks, and form illegal gatherings?

It’s surrounded by homes, including that of author Ian Rankin and hundreds more who are having to put up with this horror. I live about 15-minutes walk away but next to a lane where we often hear those from the Meadows heading south, shouting and swearing at each other. Charming!

Worst of all is the litter and rubbish they leave in the Meadows, everything from poo to broken glass. As volunteer cleaner Murray MacDonald who filled 20 litter bags explained last week, he found fag ends, pills, used barbecues, bottles, plastic and more.

The police appear frequently to discourage them but they can’t arrest the hordes or clean up after them.

If Edinburgh City Council can afford spending money on Space for People, trams and tourism support, can’t they employ evening park wardens again, more like security guards, who can stroll around, issue litter fines, ban barbecues or anything else to discourage the drunk, fighting teens who dump their pills to poison dogs or wildlife and ruin The Meadows.