Get Your Skates On!
InSITE reporter Paul Rogers gets the low down on the progress of plans for a new £250, 000 skate park in Hereford.
LPlans are steaming ahead for a brand new skate park on the old Denco car park site, Holmer Road, Hereford. The new park will include state of the art skateboard facilities and young people from around the county have been involved every step of the way in drawing up plans for the park.
Parts of the new skate park could be completed as early as the summer according to Brian Stephens, Treasurer of Wheeled Sports 4 Hereford, a registered charity set up to administer the project. “I am delighted with the progress being made. In my opinion there are a lack of facilities for young people to enjoy, so the new skate park will be very beneficial to them. Our ambition is to raise £250,000 in order to complete the process. We are making good progress with our efforts to raise money but we still have some way to go. If we are successful with our fundraising then the first phase could be completed by the summer holidays in mid July, which I am thrilled about,” he said.
Quote: If we are successful with our fundraising then the first phase could be completed by the summer holidays in mid July.
The original idea came about when a group of young people asked councillors a series of questions a few years ago about why there was no skate park in Hereford. This got the council thinking and they looked into the idea. Young people are definitely at the heart of this venture and have been involved in everything from designing the park to gaining feedback and opinions from the general public.
Even though there have been some resistance from some councillors, Brian believes that the general consensus is that the skate park will be beneficial to the city: “It will also promote skateboarding and attract tourists, which will of course benefit the local economy. The main benefit though is that it is somewhere for young people to go, as the only real place that they can skate is on the streets. However, there will be a street scene on the park, which will be all concrete,” he said.
Brian believes that the new facilities could be the start of something big. “I am very impressed by the new skate park in Worcester, which has a youth office for young people to meet. Hereford no longer has a youth club, so the Council could push towards opening a new one. The fact that the park will be based by the Leisure Centre is also very important, as hopefully we can build up a good relationship with them which may mean the inclusion of skateboarding lessons,” he said.
