Skatepark rolls into action
| Harlow Council will be taking down the hoardings and opening
the Town's new skatepark to the public, on Saturday 19th April. The
project has been funded by investment of over £300,000,
largely coming from Harlow Council with £57,500 coming from
Sport England. The state-of-the-art facility has been designed by
Freestyle Skateparks with significant input from
the local skaterboarding community. |
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The project which began in November 2007 has
seen the First Avenue site, next to Burnt Mill School in the Town
Park, transformed into a skaters' paradise. The 650sq metre park
boasts moulded concrete obstacles such as a bowl, quarter
pipes, banks, hips, blocks and rails. The skatepark is already
attracting interest from around the country, and is part of Harlow
Council’s continuing commitment to providing first-rate facilities
that local people want.
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Local skater and owner of Motel 6 Skate Shop in Wych Elm, Steve Hemming said:
"At last it’s here! An amazing outcome to over 20 years of
campaigning. The new skatepark has been built to a seriously good
standard and ticks every box with all of today’s skaters. It has tried and tested
obstacles as well as some of our own creations, which look better
in real life than we ever imagined. This park will attract
skaters from miles around, all of which will come back time and
time again due to its fun and uniqueness. Harlow is
finally put on the map for having
a-one-of-a-kind youth facility and as it’s built in concrete will
be usable for decades to come.
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“I would like to thank all who have been
involved over the years especially Chris Purvis and Lynn Seward
from the Council for listening and understanding the local
skaters needs, without them we would
have ended up with an boring bog-standard plastic skatepark."
Head of Community Services, Lynn
Seward said:
"This was always an ambitious
project, but the Council felt it was a worthy investment and so far
has had a very positive response from the Town's young
people. Harlow Skatepark is just one of the initiatives Harlow
Council have been investing in, as part of a wider plan to bring
more services for young people and helping residents to lead more
active and therefore healthier lives."
The facility will also have floodlights and
CCTV that will be connected at a later date. Landscaping will
also be completed when the electricity supply is connected. It
is regrettable that all of the work cannot be completed in time for
the opening, but these delays are beyond the control of Harlow
Council. The contractors will be working hard to ensure that all
the work is completed as soon as possible.
An official launch event and coaching sessions
are currently being planned for later in the summer.