A PETITION to save Dundee Botanic Gardens has now been backed by over 10,000 people.
The appeal titled "Save Dundee Botanic Gardens and Cafe" has now been backed by 11,251 signatures after its future became uncertain amid cuts announcements from the University of Dundee.
A university spokesman confirmed to The Scotsman this week that they were proposing to cease running the site and continue to explore "alternative options" for its future.
The news comes just after the university announced a further 190 jobs would be lost as it attempts to address its financial deficit and tries to save a further £20 million.
One supporter of the petition wrote: "As a resident nearby to the Dundee Botanics and a creative within Dundee, I believe the impact of losing such an important staple in our city would be astronomical.
"Budget cuts proposed by those who have no care for our cultural fabric should not be listened to. We the people need to stand up for these institutions, as clearly those in the decision-making seats can not see the importance of cultivating culture and our cities' third spaces."
Eva Milne, a University of Dundee student and editor of The Jute Journal, a student newspaper closely reporting on the cuts, spoke to The National.
She said: "The fact that the botanic petition has now exceeded 10,000 signatures does not surprise me. It is such a beautiful part of campus and the city itself.
"The outcry of the botanics, I think, signals how important Dundee University is to the city and how detrimental the mass cuts will be.
"I am very happy, selfishly, to be graduating next week and moving on. Students have felt the crunch of these cuts for so long now, and it only seems to be getting worse."
In 2024, details of a major financial crisis at the university began to emerge.
The university now recognises "significant failures in leadership" as the cause, and says that financial problems were "not inevitable" but were instead exacerbated by poor leadership decisions.
