Totnes skate park project nears finishing line

Councils unite to help fund much-needed facility

Skaters in Totnes can look forward to a new skate park taking shape ahead of schedule after a local councillor told them: “The finishing line is in sight!”

Members of South Hams Council’s executive committee voted unanimously to spend £150,000 now instead of leaving it until the next financial year to complete the long-awaited project.

Last year councillors backed a proposal for a new facility at Borough Park after hearing that a campaign for the new facility had been going on for so long that one of the young skaters who started it now had a ‘baby skater’ of his own.

Existing steel ramps will be removed, to be replaced by a new concrete skate park on part of the existing site with an extension. Trees in the area will be fully protected.

Councillors said they hoped the new Totnes skate park would mirror the success of a recently opened one in Kingsbridge, which Cllr Julian Brazil (Lib Dem, Stokenham) said had been ‘one of the most successful projects ever’.

“It was the community that did it,” he said. “We just helped it along. I hope this will be as beneficial as the one in Kingsbridge is.”

Cllr John Birch (Lib Dem, Totnes) said the current Totnes facility was ‘pretty awful’ while the new one was ‘excellent’. And, he pointed out, Totnes Town Council had agreed to put £30,000 towards it.

Several members praised council officer Rob Sekula for his work on the project. Cllr Nadine Dommett (Lib Dem, Ivybridge West) said her town also needed a similar facility, and council leader Dan Thomas (Lib Dem, Newton and Yealmpton) said talks on that project were already under way.