Skate Park
Project Plan
We have been working with Friction to support the provision of skateboard facilities in the area. A lot of background work has also be undertaken on this project. However because of the nature of the activity, environmental concerns and costs, progress has been slow. However since 2005 we have been visited by the Suffolk Coastal Mobile Skatepark.
Project Plan
i) Establish the Need (Completed)
ii) Specification (Completed)
iii) Identify Land
iv) Form Parent/Volunteer Management Committee
vi) Create skateboard park
vii) Open facility
Establishing the need
The need was established by:
i) the creation of a local skateboarders group (Friction).
ii) a survey was carried out at the High School in 2000 that showed skate boarding, although not top of the list, was a facility that was requested by a large number of youths.
Specification
Points to consider, regarding location. ·
- Planning Permission: This will be required.
- Lease: Need at least a 25 year lease.
- Fencing: Will need to be fenced to keep exclude dogs and protect passers by.
- Area: 35m x 50m housing a number of skateboarding elements chosen by the young people. It must not be too isolated due to safety concerns.
- Access: Vehicular access is not necessary, but probably desirable but must have access for emergency vehicles.
- Noise/Distance: The Suffolk Coastal District Council recommended distance from residential properties is 100 metres in areas with a high background noise level (ie above 45dB LA90 - 5 mins) as found in Ipswich. Where there is a lower background noise (ie long stops etc) then the recommended distance should be in excess of 180m. Clearly finding a practical site within Kesgrave with this distance from housing is going to be challenging. In order to reduce the distance required a bund would be necessary, 1m taller than the tallest piece of equipment and constructed in such a way that spectators could not use it to get a better view. This would also help to restrict overlooking of the activity. Obviously this would add to the costs.
- Lighting/Other Services: Considered necessary to allow all round use.
Points to consider after locating a site.
- Safety Standards: No legal requirements at present but BSI is working out new guidelines/regulations.
- Cost/Spec: Minimum spec is tarmac and concrete ramps. Ramps around £17-22K plus cost of base and concrete steps. So not inexpensive!
- Insurance: Operators of the skatepark would need insurance to £5M per single incident. This is not usually a problem if you go to insurers such as Suffolk Acre. Users of the skatepark cannot make insurance claims for injuries sustained while ‘pulling tricks’. They can only claim if injuries are caused by faulty, or badly maintained equipment. Insurance should be around £195 per year.
- Maintenance costs: Dependent on materials used but could be as high as 10-15% of initial cost per year.
Site Visits
Site visits have been made to Ipswich Skateboard Park and others including Trimley which has a simple tarmaced area on which youngsters build their own jumps. This is obviously a minimal cost solution and was around £15K for the surfacing.
Identify Land
To date no suitable land has been found that meets the criteria outlined above. However we are still looking. Areas looked at to date include the millennium sports ground, park and ride site and Cedarwood Green.
[top]
