Skaters may finally get a skatepark worthy of the town following a protest staged by around 50 youngsters.

Since the skate park on The Leys was opened in the early 2000s, youngsters have complained about a lack of equipment on which to test their skills on.

The all-concrete park, which features a mini ramp, flat bank, quarter pipe and funbox, is showing severe signs of age with cracks and holes tripping up skaters, bladers, scooters and BMX riders, and causing them to fall off.

The 'skate jam' aimed to raise awareness of the need for investment in the park, especially when, they said, it seems the splash park and tennis courts have all be upgraded and the mini-golf has been improved twice.

Skateboarder Cory Campton, the longest-serving user of the skate park, said: “It’s been promised a couple of times over the past 10 years but nothing's come of it and it badly needs upgrading.

"It was built in the early 2000s  and it’s out of date. If you like skateboarding it isn’t good enough. The scene in Witney is really good and there’s a great bunch of kids now but it could be even better.

"They are all very good but if you don’t progress you won’t be as good as you could be."

Mr Campton said the skaters are having to practicise on the steps, rails and pavements in Oxford, Cirencester and even London which, he thinks, is a missed opportunity for the town.

“We always travel a lot  for skateboarding but that means people from away would come here if it was any good,” he said.

Mr Campton, a joiner who once had aspirations to be a professional skater, said the skate park protest was attended by 50 skaters over the course of the day plus friends, families and many people just stopping to watch.

"The skate jam proved there is interest and a need for better facilities there. There's other things, like everywhere else on the Leys has been updated, at least once, and the mini golf has been done twice.

"We've had previous promises forgotten about so I'd really like to force it through this time. There is 100 per cent a need for it.

“Don’t they know it’s an Olympic sport now? There are kids here who could be aspiring to that. Tom Penney, the best professional skateboarder in the world, comes from Oxford."

Witney Town Council it was "quite a surprise to hear about the protest, but the council is delighted that the level of interest exists and would be very happy to have some volunteers from the group engage with the council as the project progresses".

They already plan to undertake a condition survey of skateparks, MUGA’s and other youth provision, then prepare and adopt a planned improvement and upgrade plan.

A spokesperson said: "The Town Council has already set a budget of £100k towards the regeneration of the skatepark and is looking for sponsorship and grants to supplement this."

They said the town council has been in consultation with skatepark users, and ran a survey to establish what it is that the various users (skateboarders, scooter users and other wheeled sports participants) would like to see there.

It also ran a separate survey to discover whether girls used the skatepark and other areas.

It worked with ‘Make Space for Girls’ to establish what questions should be included in that survey, and with the newly set-up Ramp Up the Leys group for the main survey.

"Councillors and officers worked hard on establishing a relationship with the skateboard community and offered advice on raising the group’s profile and wrote sponsorship letters for them.

"Unfortunately, there were too few available volunteers from the skate community at the time to follow up on much of the work done and community engagement and need are two of the elements that grant funders expect to see in applications.

"The huge support from the community and the dedicated team of successful community fundraisers was the main reason behind obtaining match funding for the Liven Up the Leys group that worked hard to get the Splash Park and Adventure Play installed at The Leys," it said.

It added: "We have all that data and there is still work happening in the background with a view to continuing the project.

"The tennis courts are run by Premier Tennis and it is they that have made the improvements to the tennis courts and the mini-golf."

 

 

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