I attended the skatepark meeting on Tuesday which was chaired by Cllr Shirley Varley - the Mayor of Morley - to avoid any allegations of partiality. The meeting was initially quite a turbulent one with many different views being articulated - most supporting plan A but some supporting plan B. Officers from Parks and Countryside Section were in attendance to give a clear view about what could and could not be done.
The budget for the refurbishing of the Skate Park is about £50,000. This is funds outside the Section 106 pot (which is the contribution developers have to give to support improving parks and greenspaces) and has come after some serious lobbying from myself and my colleagues. Both plan A and B can probably be delivered within this budget and P and C staff have been sent away to fully price up plan A.
Perhaps the most constructive element of the meeting was at the end when a large number of young people came forward to look at plan A and came up with suggestions about its improvement. Much debate has gone on about the inclusion or exclusion of a bowl where there seemed to be different views about its usefulness.
We have pledged to have another meeting shortly after the plans have come back fully priced up. This process will look at all issues - including lighting - and decisions will have to be made on priorities if the costs are over budget. The date of this future meeting will publicised to make sure we get the same support we had on this occasion.
The plan needs to be agreed as quickly as possible as the money has to be spent by October so the sooner we can get on with the work the better!
As a final note of interest - the BNP Councillor Chris Beverley didn't attend - again. Allegedly he was busy with national BNP politics posing in front of a BNP sign on the back of a lorry in Morley!
Lets hope work on the new skatepark will commence before the Easter break!
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