Reports Database:
Calculating the value of Edinburgh’s Parks

In 2014 City of Edinburgh Council undertook a project intended to calculate an estimate of the value of services delivered in Edinburgh Council-run parks. The study provided a forecast of the social return from the investment by the Council in 4 sample Edinburgh Parks, and also the Pentland Hills Regional Park. The benefits that are measured are those that are made possible by the investment the authority makes in maintaining and managing the park and have been identified following consultation with those who were most directly affected. The analysis of the 4 sample parks was undertaken during 2014 by Carrick Associates. The analysis of Pentland Hills Regional Park was undertaken by Greenspace Scotland in 2012. The results of the 5 studies were then combined with population data obtained from 5000 face-to-face interviews to give an estimate of the value of services delivered in all 142 of Edinburgh’s parks.

This document is the Technical Report which provides details of how the 4 sample park studies were undertaken, and the results that were found. It is 90 pages long. There is also a shorter separate summary report available, which gives an overview of the process and the findings, and gives the scaled-up figures for the city park system. It should be read alongside this one. This document draws together the 4 individual parks SROI studies which together were used as a basis for scaling up an estimate of the value of all of Edinburgh’s parks. Each park study was conducted as a separate exercise, so please note that there is an element of repetition in the descriptions of the processes that were applied in each case. The Pentland Hills Study was created as a stand-alone report and can be downloaded separately.

The overall finding was that for every £1 invested in Edinburgh’s parks, approximately £12 of benefits are delivered. The cost benefit ratio varies from 1:7 for a natural park, to 1:17 for a large city-centre park.