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Place featuresYou are in: Jersey > Places > Place features > Skate park for St Helier at last  Skateboarding Skate park for St Helier at lastBy Claire Peters After five years of campaigning it looks like Jersey skaters will finally get a purpose built park, thanks to a proposition tabled to the States.
Jersey may finally have a skate park by the end of the year. A proposition was tabled in the States on Tuesday 16 January 2008 for a purpose-built facility on the New North Quay. Deputy Ben Fox made the proposition, which also included the building of a youth and community centre at the Waterfront. Skaters have been asking for a park for years, but have been refused numerous times because of legal and planning issues.  CISA have installed a ramp at St Ouen Youth Centre 'An ideal site'The proposal is to build an outdoor park on the old TNT warehouse at the end of the quay, which he describes as “an ideal site”. “It’s not the biggest of sites but it provides a permanent, all-year-round facility,” explained the St Helier deputy. “We’ve spoken to a lot of young people over the years and they’re screaming out for a facility.” Skating for ChristmasDeputy Fox said that the plan is to erect a marquee style cover over the park which should “keep off most of the rain and wind”. He’s hopeful that the skate park will be “up and running by the end of the year” as it is relatively “easy to erect”.  Something, somewhereJake Hipwell, President of the Channel Island Skate Association (CISA), is delighted that years of campaigning have paid off: “Obviously this is excellent news and we’re bordering on ecstatic at the moment,” he said. “We’ve been looking at this and campaigning for this for over five years now… it’s not like we specifically wanted anywhere – we just wanted something somewhere!” Outdoor vs indoorWhilst an indoor skate park has some obvious advantages, it also brings with it a lot of red tape – for example first-aiders would need to be on the premises all the time it was open. “I don’t want to bring in extra rules or legislation nor does the association because then you really discourage people from using it,” explained Jake. An outdoor skate park on public land should come under the same jurisdiction as playgrounds – use at your own risk. Jake said the proposed facility will “do a perfect job”.  'Very optimistic'Funding for the New North Quay park is available from the Waterfront Enterprise Board, which has money set aside for a skate facility. Both Deputy Fox and Jake are keen for CISA to be involved in the design process. “It would be pointless to design it without the input of the people who are going to use it, because we’d end up with something that doesn’t necessarily meet the needs of the end user – that’s futile,” described Jake. Deputy Fox is “very optimistic” that the park will be agreed and completed before the year is out. “As you know, plans come and plans go…my proposition is there to cement it so we don’t have any more disappointments like we’ve had during the last four years,” explained the deputy. 'Getting stuck in'Jake also assured that CISA will do all they can to ensure that St Helier finally gets its skate park. “Obviously the skateboard association will be pushing hard to do everything we can,” he said. “We’ll be getting stuck in and making sure that we put everything into it that we possibly can.” last updated: 29/04/2008 at 16:19 Have Your Say
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