Upgrades and repairs that could cost £3,000 are on the cards for a skatepark in Rookley.
John Cattle of the Wight Trash skate company and shop set out a vision for Rookley Skatepark catering to beginners, but which professionals can also enjoy, at a Rookley Parish Council (RPC) meeting last week (1st April).
Proposed enhancements and repairs include extending the park’s concrete base, crack and brick fixing and installing ramps, curb stones and a platform.
Benefits of an improved park include getting people out and ‘off the Xboxes’, creating friendships and relaxation, Mr Cattle said in a tour of the site next to Rookley Village Hall.
The skateboard teacher from East Cowes owns both Wight Trash and John Cattle’s Skate Club C.I.C, a school which teaches 400 students a week, specialising in children and adults with additional needs.
Mr Cattle, now 52, has skated since he was 13. He said:
“It’s a good activity whether its bikes, boards, scooters or whatever. You’re being creative, you’re challenging yourself.
“Usually, I just want something that beginners can use but professionals can enjoy as well. Everywhere on the Island, everything’s six foot high or just ridiculously scary for young people to get started.
Article continues below this advertisement “Somewhere like this, nothing’s bigger than three or four foot. If you go to somewhere like Sandown or Cowes, things are quite big there and it’s outdated technology…it’s metal ramps that rust…concrete, you do it once and you don’t have to do it again.”
RPC currently has responsibility for the skate park and Rookley Village Association owns the land it sits on.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) understands the works could be financed by a mixture of RPC funds and donations.
Next steps for the project including working out costings and hopefully gaining permission from the Rookley Village Assocation, parish clerk Sally Woods said.
Sally said:
“If we can get a decision made in May and then we can give him the go-ahead for hopefully works to be done in June”.
Worth every penny if it keeps nippers out of trouble.