Moray Council has approved a draft masterplan for Cooper Park in Elgin, clearing the way for an eight week public consultation on potential improvements including new play facilities, paths, outdoor fitness areas and a new pavilion.
The Elgin Neighbourhood Board will lead the consultation from 12 October until 4 December 2026, with local feedback helping to shape individual projects and decide where some of the proposed facilities could eventually be located.
Residents will be able to have their say through drop in events, workshops with groups already using the park, activities involving local schools and online consultation opportunities.
Among the ideas being considered are a fully accessible and inclusive play space, a bouldering area, cycling proficiency track, outdoor gym, upgraded paths, solar lighting and signage, landscaping designed to improve biodiversity, and a new pavilion with a multi use games area.
The proposals follow earlier public engagement which identified a strong appetite for improvements to Cooper Park, including work carried out by the Elgin Neighbourhood Board and consultation undertaken during development of the Elgin City Centre Masterplan in 2021.
Elgin was awarded £20 million by the UK Government in 2023 as part of its long term plan for towns, with the programme intended to give local communities a greater role in choosing priorities for the future of their area.
The town is now part of the first phase of the Pride in Place Programme, which began earlier this year, while investment in and around Cooper Park is already taking place through separate funding programmes.
Levelling Up Fund money has been secured to refurbish Cooper Park Pond and transform the existing toilet provision into a new cafe, toilets and Changing Places facility.
The Moray Growth Deal Cultural Quarter project is also supporting plans to bring nearby Grant Lodge back into use, refurbish Elgin Town Hall and deliver the Early Years STEM Centre at Elgin Library, which opened in February.
The Elgin Neighbourhood Board now wants further investment to strengthen Cooper Park’s role as a destination park while protecting the character which has made it one of the city’s best known public spaces.
Cllr Amber Dunbar, Depute Leader of Moray Council, said:
“The masterplan sets out a shared vision to conserve and enhance the park, while identifying locations for new facilities that make it a more attractive space for visitors without detracting from what makes the park special.
“This vision reflects feedback from both the community and Moray Council.”
The next stage will put those ideas directly in front of the people who use Cooper Park, giving residents eight weeks to help determine which improvements should move forward and where they should go.
With millions of pounds of wider investment already changing parts of the park and surrounding cultural quarter, the consultation gives Elgin residents an opportunity to influence what one of their most familiar public spaces could become next.
