Edinburgh’s Christmas
Posted on: October 4, 2025
Balance festive celebrations with safeguarding Princes Street Gardens’ quiet enjoyment
Address: East and West Princes Street Gardens
Proposal: Proposed temporary installations for Edinburgh’s Christmas 2025/26 across East and West Princes Street Gardens and The Mound precinct, including performance and catering units, removable structures, and live activity as part of the City of Edinburgh Council’s festive programme. The permissions cover setup, operation, and dismantling between 27 October 2025 and 18 January 2026, with all necessary licences and consents to be obtained in line with Council requirements.
Reference No: 25/04656/FUL & 25/04660/FUL
Closing date for comments: Mon 22 Sep 2025
Determination date: Mon 20 Oct 2025
Result: Pending
Cockburn Response
The Cockburn Association recognises the popularity of Edinburgh’s Christmas Festival and the contribution it makes to the city’s seasonal life. The event attracts many visitors and creates a lively festive atmosphere in the city centre. At the same time, Princes Street Gardens are of exceptional significance, being part of the Inventory-listed New Town Gardens and central to the Old and New Towns of Edinburgh World Heritage Site. They are valued not only as a setting for events but as an historic landscape and a much-loved civic green space, offering opportunities for quiet enjoyment in the heart of the city.
This year’s applications (25/04656/FUL and 25/04660/FUL) are timely and provide fuller detail than in previous years, which we welcome as a positive step towards greater transparency and planning certainty. The proposals involve temporary installations across Princes Street Gardens, and the Mound precinct, from late October until mid-January. While these activities can enhance the festive offer, they also limit general access for several months of the year and affect the quiet enjoyment of the gardens as a greenspace. Every effort should therefore be made to minimise these impacts, and to ensure that any damage to trees, surfaces, or planting is quickly and fully reinstated. The proposal for a two-year recurring consent in the West Gardens also raises questions about how impacts will be reviewed and managed over time, making ongoing monitoring and evaluation especially important.
The Cockburn Association believes that these issues can best be addressed through open dialogue and careful planning. We would encourage the City of Edinburgh Council, event operators, heritage bodies, community groups, and garden users to work together in shaping how the gardens are used during the festive season. With such collaboration, it should be possible to find a balance that safeguards the historic and ecological value of Princes Street Gardens while also enabling appropriate cultural activity.