Whitchurch skate park construction will begin in spring

Over the last 10 years Shropshire Council, Whitchurch Town Council and other groups have been discussing ideas about raising funds and building a skate park in the town.

The main stumbling block during this time has always been a lack of funding.

However, all the funds are now in place and the council have appointed Red Kite Network Ltd to act as the project management consultants.

They will assist with writing the specification, tendering for the work and appointing an appropriate contractor who will build the skate park.

In the coming months project group members will be working with users and local residents to help chose the final design.

Lezley Picton, Shropshire Council’s cabinet member for culture and leisure, said: “Whitchurch’s skate park is going to be a fantastic new facility for young people in the town and surrounding area.

“The working group have worked tirelessly over the past couple of years to get the funding in place. We know this is something the people of Whitchurch have wanted for a long time and it’s good to see that all that work has now paid off and Whitchurch will finally get a skate park.

“It’s great that so many people want to get involved with skateboarding and BMXing, and I can only see this interest increasing given that they are both Olympic sports.”

Funding for this project has been obtained from Shropshire Council, Whitchurch Town Council and Next Generation Youth.

Gerald Dakin, Shropshire councillor for Whitchurch South, added: "A skate park in Whitchurch has been talked about for many years and I’m sure many people thought it would never happen.

"A working group was formed about two years ago to resurrect the project, and over the course of this time we have consulted with young people, applied for funding and spoken to various groups about how they might be able to support this project.”

Over the past few months Shropshire Council and Whitchurch Town Council, along with their partners, have been working with RSK Environmental Consultants who have undertaken various tests on the land in Jubilee Park where they are proposing to build the skate park.

This work has now been concluded and, in short, the land has been deemed safe for the construction of a skate park.

The construction should take about six to eight weeks to build, and it is hoped that construction will be completed by May 25.