Holyrood Park is truly a city park like no other, a remarkable upland landscape at the heart of Scotland’s capital city that shapes the City’s identity and encompasses a range of habitats and heritage.
While it is recognised as a place of outstanding value and importance, it has vast potential to offer even greater benefits for people, nature and heritage. It offers opportunities to measurably improve peoples’ lives and wellbeing; to help us adapt to the ongoing and deepening climate crisis; to support the City’s visitor economy; and to provide an exemplary model of integrated 21st century approaches to land management and change.
This Strategic Plan seeks to deliver on these opportunities and place Holyrood Park at the centre of Edinburgh’s life. It is the starting point for realising the benefits that Holyrood Park can bring us all; and marks the first step on a journey that will need to be shaped with communities and stakeholders to ensure that a sustainable and bold future emerges for the Park. A future that addresses key emerging and existing challenges at the Park; and reflects and responds to national and local policy.
Central to the Plan is a new defined Purpose for the Park – an enduring statement of intent that provides consistency in a changing world and changing circumstances. This is supported by a suite of Principles to guide management and change, these situate “people and place” at the heart of all future decision-making.
A Vision and Objectives for the Park have also been set out to drive change over the course of the next decade and to achieve the Park’s Purpose and to deliver real benefits for the people of Edinburgh.
Over the next 18 months Historic Environment Scotland will work with stakeholders and communities to refine the Strategic Plan, which will lead onto development of detailed Strategies, Plans and Proposals to deliver a new future for the Park that reflects community aspirations, the needs of the City and its inherent value and sensitivity.
Download the Outline Strategic PlanConsultation
Historic Environment Scotland launched a public consultation on 26 September, 2023, seeking feedback on the Outline Strategic Plan for Holyrood Park. In additional to the online consultation, HES hosted an number of in-person opportunities to participate.
You can also head over to the Virtual Engagement Room, for further breakdowns of the Plan.
The consultation closed on 19 December, 2023, and HES will update in due course.