Edinburgh disabled campaigners fear lack of parking means they will be unable to attend summer events at Botanics

Disabled campaigner Hugh Munro who has led the fight to restore blue-badge parking next to Edinburgh's Royal Botanic Garden fears the summer will be over before the promised compromise of putting back four spaces is implemented.

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Officials originally said they hoped to have them in place by Easter, but Mr Munro says there is still no sign of progress. And he claims he and other disabled people will now miss out on summer events they wanted to go to at the Botanics.

Disabled parking was removed from the two crescent areas on either side of Arboretum Place, at the garden's west gate, under a Spaces for People scheme during the pandemic and now a permanent pedestrianised area is planned.

But the relocated blue-badge spaces on the main road have left disabled drivers having to get out into the path of passing cars and some of the spaces are further from the gate than guidelines allow.

The campaigners hoped four spaces could be reinstated in each crescent, but the council said two in each was the most they could provide.

Mr Munro said he needed to park as close as possible to the gate so he could walk into the garden and then make use of one of the Botanics' disability scooters, which are not allowed to be brought out to people's cars.

"There are events there in the summer I'd like to attend but I'm going to miss out on all that," he said. "Yet with a scooter, I could get around both the Highland Show and the Borders Book Festival, so I'm really being disenfranchised.

The empty crescent area at the west gate where disabled drivers and others previously parked.

"I was able to attend these two events thanks to forward-seeing management. My spirits were lifted and my health got a huge boost. It proved there are ways around these mobility issues, but someone has to make the first move."

He said he had explained the situation to both racing legend Sir Jackie Stewart and novelist Alexander McCall Smith when he met them at the book festival. "They could not understand the removal of safe, secure parking," he said.

"Despite the council promising to sort out access to the Botanics for me, nothing has happened. The crescents lying empty are a travesty to how the council views the vulnerable.

"The Botanics have five very good scooters you can use, but they're not allowed to come past the entrance at the west gate to pick people up. My problem is getting into the place.

Campaigner Hugh Munro demonstrates the dangers of the on-road disabled parking spaces.

“It would have been the same at the Highland Show except the scooter company came across to the car park with the scooter, you jumped on it, you got through and that was you for the whole day.

"The council has had more than enough time to sort this out."

The latest update Mr Munro received from the council said the final design of the new layout was being costed by a contractor who would provide an indication of the timescale for implementation in due course.

A council spokeswoman said: “The team is still finalising plans with the contractor and hope to begin work in the coming weeks.”