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Skate park plans presented
9 January 2008
Harrow Times USERS of an internationally-renowned skate park due to be demolished have given council officers draft plans for a replacement. Harrow Council wants to build over Harrow Skate Park, in Byron Park, off Christchurch Avenue, as part of a £36m project to reform leisure services in the borough but has promised to build a new one. Harrow Skate Park Users' Group is still fighting to save the park and campaigners have collected more than 1,400 signatures.
But the group is in negotiations with the council over what a replacement might look like should the proposals go ahead and has requested a variety of different ramps and rails. Robert Adler, president of the group, gave the Harrow Times a sneak preview of what might be in the final designs. He said: "We've got a rough sketch. What we want is the basis of what Harrow Skate Park is but we want a new half pipe as well. "We want a new section with off ramps and we want a swimming pool. We want it all to flow together rather than just having one section here and one section there. "What's great about Harrow is that more than one person can skate it at any one time. At the moment if I skate the vert ramp for an hour no one will bother me. You can have ten people on at once." The project will not be confirmed until it goes through the planning process and responses to a consultation, which concludes today, have not yet been presented to the council. But if the plans do go through councillors have said the group's suggestions will form the basis of the new skate park. Councillor Paul Osborn, portfolio holder for strategy and business support, said: "The key thing is that we recognise the skateboarders put huge value on the current skate park and we do want to make sure that any replacement is a good replacement. "One of the reasons I think they are worried is that some councils have a very bad record in providing skate parks. "It is very difficult to see how we can do the whole leisure centre project without getting rid of the skate park." Council officers are still waiting for a more specific design which will then be put to construction companies, who will provide quotes and feedback on the designs. Local skateboarders are organising a competition at the park on Sunday, April 20, and Day Release, a local band made up of skaters who use the park, will be playing. Alex Reeve, of Birkdale Avenue, Pinner, who is organising the event with Death Skateboards, a skateboarding team, said he is hoping the event will act as a show of support for the current park. He said: "We also want to have the park made a herritage site as it is a huge part of skateboarding history and that will hopfully ensure that future generations will be able to have the Harrow experience without having to travel to Romford as the only other park like Harrow is situated there and you have to pay to skate it." |
