Parking permit cost will put residents off walking in the Pentlands, claims councillor
Plans to charge walkers in the Pentlands £75 a year for a parking permit will put people off going to the hills, a councillor has claimed.
Edinburgh's transport committee is expected to approve on Thursday a proposal to introduce parking fees for the first time at three car parks in the Pentland Hills Regional Park - at Harlaw, Threipmuir and Bonaly.
The charges would be the same as the voluntary contributions invited over the last six months in a pilot scheme - £2.50 for up to two hours; £5 for a full day (6am-10pm); £10 for a vehicle parked overnight; and £20 for a motorhome parked overnight, with parking permits also available at £75 for a year or £40 for six months. Similar charges are also proposed for the car park at Flotterstone, which falls under Midlothian Council.
The move comes after improvements at the car parks, including new toilets, with electric vehicle charging points also due to be installed.
But Tory councillor Graeme Bruce, who represents Pentland Hills ward, said the move would end decades of free parking at one of Edinburgh’s most important outdoor spaces and he feared it would discourage people from enjoying the countryside.
He said: “A £75 annual parking charge will put many residents off using the Pentlands altogether. For many families, £75 is not a small amount of money. Asking people to pay that just to enjoy walking, exercise and fresh air is unfair and unnecessary.”
He warned the impact would be felt most by families, single parents, and middle-income households, many of whom already face rising living costs.
Cllr Bruce said he was also concerned that the charge would undermine the role of the Pentlands as a public asset that supported physical and mental wellbeing.
“The Pentlands are not a luxury destination,” he said. “They are a vital public green space that should encourage people to be active and healthy — not make them think twice because of cost.”
And he said regional parks elsewhere in Scotland operated with lower charges, free parking periods, or no charges at all.
“This £75 charge is not inevitable — it is a political choice. Labour and the SNP have chosen to put the burden on residents, and I believe they have got this badly wrong.
“The Pentlands belong to everyone.They should not become a place where cost determines who gets to enjoy them.”
At the Pentland Hills Regional Park joint committee, Cllr Bruce proposed an amendment lowering the price of a 12-month permit to £50, but it was defeated.
Pentland Hills SNP councillor Neil Gardiner, who chairs the joint committee, said after listening to park users he had successfully proposed the annual permit charge should be reduced from the £110 originally proposed by officials to £75.
He said revenue from the car parks would fund toilet cleaning, contribute to park maintenance and support recruitment to the park ranger service, with money received to be spent within the park.
A report to the transport committee says an engagement exercise produced 1,872 responses, 66 per cent of which supported charging for car parking.
Transport convener Stephen Jenkinson said: "All the merits and demerits of introducing the scheme were debated at length at the joint committee and I feel we reached a position that tried to satisfy as many people as possible."