Council pledge over skate park (From Free Press Series)

Council pledge over skate park

A SKATE park for Abergavenny will be top of the shopping list in next year's budget.

Cllr Andre Arkell, Monmouthshire's cabinet member for leisure told youth workers and a teenager who attended the Bryn y Cwm area committee meeting: "Abergavenny will be having a skate park, it had been planned for this year but the capital programme was over-subscribed and it did not make it.

"But it will get a good hearing to go ahead next year because it is council policy to provide one in each of the four major towns and in other areas where possible."

He said skate parks had opened in Monmouth, Caldicot and Chepstow, with the latter opening later than scheduled last week.

Youth worker Matt Wilce said a lot of young people in Abergavenny were interested to know what is happening about building the facility.

Teenager Joe Woolley asked the committee if there were any plans for a temporary solution to the problem in this financial year, and he was told by Cllr Arkell there were not.

Joe said the permanent facility needs to be built near Seven Corners youth cafe because of the number of young people who use the facility.

But area manager Dale Roberts said there was ample space in the Market Hall for a mobile skate park, if they could find someone to sponsor it.

Jane Shatford, co-ordinator for Communities First said they are planning to bring in such a facility to the Market Hall at the beginning of the summer holidays and suggested this would be a good opportunity to ask young people where they want a permanent solution built.

It was suggested to the youth workers that they should get young people to join the new area forum, and Cllr Verona Nelmes said the present membership is nearly all middle-aged or elderly people.

Dale Roberts said youth worker Sarah Russell already belongs to the area forum, but perhaps some of the young people would want to have a say as well.