Skate park approved by a single vote (From Gazette & Herald)

Skate park approved by a single vote

YOUNGSTERS at Kirkbymoorside are to get a skateboard park after a single vote decided the issue at a heated meeting of the town council on Monday night.

The facility is to be part of a £250,000 upgrading of the town play area. The skateboard park was controversial and there was added pressure because if a lease and approval were not secured this week, a £70,000 lottery grant would have been lost.

There were strong conflicts of opinion at the packed council meeting, as anxious children and their parents waited to hear the outcome.

At a public session held before the official start of the meeting, a neighbour to the site, Glen Kildale, a former director of leisure services with two local authorities, said there were many concerns about the proposal - in particular it being used as a multi-age facility. He forecast: "It will be a focal point for trouble. Noise will be a real issue with boisterous behaviour."

In addition, he believed there would be litter and graffiti problems.

However, added Mr Kildale, he was not against the park, but believed it should be supervised.

Another neighbour feared the park would result in more anti-social behaviour in Kirkbymoorside. Her home had suffered broken windows, a garden fence had been wrecked and a nameplate defaced.

But there was strong support for the scheme, led by Sheila Ridley, a former town councillor and deputy mayor. She said the report to councillors by town clerk Martin Brampton was "largely biased and unbalanced". Negotiations between the Kirkbymoorside Play Area Association and the council had been "frenetic", she added.

She said a £1,500-£2,000 bill to the council for insurance would be a small price to pay for totally refurbishing the playing field in Old Road and winning grant funding towards the scheme.

"The association has done everything it should have done," said Mrs Ridley.

Assurances had been given by the environmental health officer at Ryedale District Council and the authority's consultants about the type of equipment and its location, together with the type of buffer zones of trees and hedges which had been designed so the skatepark would not cause undue disturbance to neighbours.

She accused Mr Brampton of having a personal interest in the scheme in voicing his opposition to it as a neighbour.

Mr Brampton, who at the meeting declared an interest, said in a report to councillors that his home was within 25m of the playing field and 80m from the proposed skate area.

"I was originally enthusiastic about the new provision for young children and neutral to the idea of a skate park, but the more I have found out about the project, and particularly the skate area, the more concerned I have become.

"Negative impacts do not appear to have been discussed openly, and my wife and I have written to all council members to express our deep concern about the skate area."

Mr Brampton added: "I have been repeatedly accused of all kinds of things, often unjustly in my view. I have been unable to hide my misgivings about a project that may well cause me considerable problems, but nonetheless I have put in a huge amount of work in clarifying issues and resolving problems. There remain serious reservations."

He said he would have been negligent as the clerk if he had not brought concerns to the notice of the council.

Youth worker Susan Dent believed the skateboard park would "tremendously reduce" anti-social behaviour in Kirkbymoorside, as it had done in Malton and Norton. She said: "Youth workers will have somewhere to meet young people and may be able to improve relationships with residents as a result. The young people have been wanting this development for a long time - they have nowhere to go."

PC Paul Stevenson also spoke in favour of the scheme because it would get skateboarding youngsters off the road where they were at considerable risk of being involved in a road accident.

"We are not just looking at today's children, but future generations. The money will be a good investment," he said, and told the councillors: "If you vote against it, you are condoning children using the roads."

Coun Gaynor de Barr, the deputy mayor, said that if the £70,000 grant was lost, so too would other funding for future projects. "I hope young people will get involved and support our belief in them in this scheme," she said.

She added that she was pleased that Mr Brampton had declared an interest, because he was in an invidious position as a neighbour and town clerk. However, she questioned whether Mr Brampton should have the sole right to negotiate with the play area association.

At one point, Mr Brampton offered to leave the meeting and return home, but councillors persuaded him not to do so.

Coun Tony Riby said it was not necessarily teenagers who were responsible for anti-social behaviour.

Coun Barry Brook believed too much emphasis had been put on the scale of the development and suggested that the town council itself should carry out the scheme. Coun Andy Suter said: "We have had a gun put to our heads."

Coun de Barr said the lease had been drawn up with the involvement of a solicitor.

At the end of the long debate, councillors voted by four votes to three in favour of granting a lease and permission for the skateboard and play area developments to go ahead.

Updated: 10:45 Wednesday, June 23, 2004