Town’s new £260k skate park expected to be ready next summer

BSTC's Graham Baker with a selection of skate park design brochures.

Bradley Stoke Town Council says it is hopeful that a new concrete skate park within the grounds of the leisure centre will be ready for the school summer holidays next year, but probably not in time for the community festival in June, as had originally been planned.

The £260k funding for the park has been raised from various sources, including £200k from South Gloucestershire Council (SGC), and young people continue to be actively involved in the design and development of the project.

The town council is working closely with SGC and a range of specialist surveys and reports on the new site are nearing conclusion. It is anticipated that the tender process, to identify a specialist skate park design and construction company, will go live very soon. Once a design and construction company has been appointed, there will be further consultation with young people and other key stakeholders to fine tune the final design.

Over the recent summer holidays, local young people, with the support of Graham Baker, the town council’s Youth Development & Participation Worker, have been visiting other skate parks to gather ideas.

They have so far been, along with their BMXs and scooters, to skate parks in Midsomer Norton, Winchester, Newbury, Oxford and Cirencester. After riding the parks, the young people have had regular meetings to critically evaluate what they have learned from the experience, both positive and negative, and to identify features and ideas that could be incorporated in the new facility.

Several young people are now being supported to complete the Duke of Edinburgh Award as a consequence of their volunteering and active involvement in the planning and organisation of the two days of skate park related events at this year’s community festival, their ongoing commitment to the research and development of the new park and other ongoing contributions, including reporting on any maintenance issues at the existing skate park.

Plan showing location of a proposed new skate park in Bradley Stoke.

Photo (top): Bradley Stoke Town Council’s Graham Baker with a selection of skate park design brochures.

Above: Plan showing location of the proposed new skate park in the grounds of Bradley Stoke Leisure Centre.

This article originally appeared in the November 2014 edition of the Bradley Stoke Journal news magazine, delivered FREE, EVERY MONTH, to 9,450 homes in Bradley Stoke, Little Stoke and Stoke Lodge. Phone 01454 300 400 to enquire about advertising or leaflet insertion.

Postscript: The skate park project was put out to tender on 3rd November, with expressions of interest required by 15th December. It looks like the project timescales may have slipped further, since the tender document lists an estimated contract start date of 6th July 2015 and an estimated contract completion date of 30th September 2015.

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2 comments

  1. What a complete waste of public money, they already have a skate park so put up with what you have and make the best of it. Power crazed council spending money they dont have

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