On Tuesday 9th Feb 2010 a representative from Reload Clothing sat on the Lichfield skate park meeting at the Lichfield District Council buildings.
To put it in a nutshell, the council have agreed there will be a skate park and the designated site is going to be the circus area of Beacon park.
The skate park will cover an area not exceeding 1500m square and include street and transition features and landscaping.
The sticking points seem to be budget and timescale. The council wanted to get things moving with a budget of £300,000 to include landscaping, this proved to be a sticking point, with the LSA (Lichfield Skate park Association) aiming there sights a little higher, the LSA wanted to agree a budget of £400,000 to include landscaping and have the skate park built in two stages as and when the funds became available.
To put this into perspective the Burton skate park cost somewhere in the region of £100,000.
As yet the funding has not been secured, it would have to come from various sources such as Sport England, Big Lottery Fund and number of other Trusts and Foundations.
The proposed timetable for the project is as follows:
- Design Completion and fee quotation return deadline: 31 March 2010
- Design Team Appointment: 1 May 2010
- Deadline for supply of consultation material for discussion with local residents: 1 Sept 2010
- Deadline for submission of planning application: 1 Nov 2010
- Construction Start date: 1 April 2011
The project timetable has slipped back a year due to the regeneration of Beacon park by the Historic Parks project, please note that this is a separate project with a separate budget and does not incorporate the Skate park.
If you have any queries drop into Reload Clothing at 33 Bore St, Lichfield
You could have mentioned that the size of the skatepark was recommended by the consultant Wally Hollyday to be 15,000 ft² (1,500m²) when he visited Lichfield from California in 2007. He said that this is a medium skatepark that would best suit a community the size of Lichfield. Wally is probably the most experienced skatepark designer worldwide. When the District Council joined with the Skatepark Association later that year, in the Skatepark Partnership, the landscaping was estimated to be 500 m² in addition to the 1,500m² of skating surfaces.
ReplyDeleteThe Burton skatepark is only partly completed and overcrowded; 2/3 remains to be done. When comparing the cost of skateparks, you could also have mentioned that the Stoke on Trent park cost around £ 650,000 several years ago.
As you will have heard at the meeting, the planning application should have been sent to potential designers last november, but it received low priority from the Council in spite of repeated requests from the Skatepark Association. The Council now expects to have the planning application entered next november, a year late.
The District Council has declared that it does not believe that any funding will be available from the Big Lottery or its subsidiaries such as Sport England, which is why they would like to reduce the size of the Lichfield skatepark by including the landscaping, that is likely to be at least 30% of the total, thus reducing the cost. The draft design specification drawn up by the District Council calls for a design that can be built in 2 stages; this is not an idea of the Skatepark Association, but we feel that it is a good idea, however we would like to see a design for the complete park of 1,500m² of skating surfaces to avoid having it split into 2 designs which will increase costs.
As the District Council has recently declared that skateboarding is only a niche sport, their view is that it does not warrant a significant investment.
It should be mentioned that I am thankful to author of this blog, who has posted key points of the meeting on the 9th. I believe he covered the main issues, and I apologise for the long reply... which has been forced into two posts as I couldn’t condense it anymore!
ReplyDeleteAs a skateboarder foremost (for over 10 years), but also a member of the LSA, and someone who has worked for the council on occasions, I feel I’m in a unique position and I would like to reply to David’s post, as an individual.
To quote, David states ‘the District Council has recently declared that skateboarding is only a niche sport, their view is that it does not warrant a significant investment.’
I agree with you here. For anyone to claim skateboarding a niche sport is ridiculous, I passionately believe it is not a ‘sport’ at all. But that is a different bag of skittles all together so I won’t get into my philosophy on that matter, I’ll just let you taste the outer rainbow (just the colour purple..maybe some red)
As a ‘significant investment’ I presume you’re referring to both time and money.
I would have to disagree with this. When I have worked at the council I have seen firsthand on many occasions both Sonny and Cher (I have changed their names to protect their identities,) working towards a positive outcome for the skatepark, both in the office and outside looking at other skate parks and facilities, alongside local skateboarders, thus contradicting the idea of it being ‘low priority’. In my opinion.
Regarding a monetary investment, you mention Stoke plaza costing £650,000. According to ukcities.co.uk, Stoke has an approximate population of 239,000, while Lichfield has 30,000. I accept these figures may not be entirely accurate; but they do highlight the size differences. Thus it seems to me a £300,000 facility would actually be a significant dollop of custard for 'a community the size of Lichfield.'
Obviously £400,000 would be better, so too would £500,000, in fact if I had my way I would ask for a £900,000 and construct a facility entirely of fake cheese (not Swiss cheese, for obvious health and safety reasons.) However I realise realistically, someone has to draw the line somewhere. That is what took up the majority of the meeting as I saw it.
At the meeting, Councillor Dundas (David I think his first name was,) (also of the LSA) stated he had spoken to youth’s using the park in Burton, which no doubt is a positive from him, however personally I would like to see such Communication taken to the streets of Lichfield and the local skaters.....
....I spoke to a few regular skateboarders (LSA members) in Lichfield today, who were concerned over the new ‘on the spot £50 fine for skateboarding’ they are getting threatened with from authorities, and asked me what was going on in regards to the future. I tried to take them there in the delorium, however the lightening missed the cathedral, so it was not an option. I would have liked to then, refer them to the LSA page, but remembered that similar to them, it has not been officially updated on the situation since October. The majority of the skaters I see/skate with on a regular basis have no idea what’s going on in regards to the park/have not been kept informed/have no idea who key members of the committee are.
ReplyDeleteThis all leads back to why I assume this blog was posted, as I have been told Reload regularly gets visitors asking on the skatepark situation.
Instead of petty squabbling and laying blame, we need to work together and look back to the future, which is of course to the youth, and take a bite from their sandwich (peanut butter). Just look at the positive and great work the Michael Patterson group has achieved in just over a year.
However I can only state things from how I see them and unfortunately ‘I’m not young enough to know everything’ (to quote Oscar Wilde).
I also appreciate that that ‘what the thinker thinks the prover proves,’ and accept I may be totally incorrect in my analysis of any and all of these events.
All I can hope for is that a suitable facility will be made before either, all hope is lost, we have all retired, or are penniless from fines.
Jesse James