‘Long overdue by about 20 years,’ says Brackley resident as council finally submit plans for a skate park

Brackley town council have finally agreed on a potential site and building contractor for their skate park proposal and the plans have now been submitted to West Northamptonshire Council (WNC).

The skate park has been a hot topic for many years in the town and where many are looking forward to the building of the facility, there are others who have grave concerns about the development.

Brackley town council have been keen to involve the whole town in this project and had backed the concept of the facility in 2017, when a group of Brackley boys had put together a campaign and appeared on Anglia News with their own video. They had attended a council meeting to make a formal request and had captured the interest of the council.

A number of other videos and requests for a skate park have been made over the years, with the first Youtube video appearing in 2007.

Cllr Sue Sharps has been running a Skate Sunday event for youths in Brackley over November and December this year as part of a South Northants Youth Engagement project. This has seen a large amount of interest and still demonstrates a real interest in a skating facility for the town.

When asked about the planning permission application for the skate park Cllr Clark said: “It’s an aspirational design for the youth of Brackley to enjoy now, and for the future generations.”

Brackley town council held a public meeting and survey in July 2022 for residents to become involved in the plans and since submitting the final planning application, the town council have been urging residents to view and have their say on the documents on the WNC website.

The company Maverick did not want to comment on their design when approached by this newspaper but they have involved with developing many skate park facilities across the UK. They specialise and install spray concrete skateparks and many of their designs can be seen on their website.

Maverick added to the planning documents on the WNC planning portal: “The Brackley area currently has a strong wheeled sports scene, far outweighing the available facilities offered locally. The local user group has been campaigning for many years to bring this project to fruition; a much-needed, contemporary facility, suitable for the passionate wheeled sports community of Brackley.”

They added: “This application seeks consent for a new concrete wheeled sports facility with a skateable area, not including any landscaping, of 435m2. To enable the facility to be built in the most suitable area of the elected site, two trees are proposed to be removed and replaced.”

Paul Wiltshire mayor of Brackley said: “Brackley Town Council have wanted to provide a skate park for Brackley residents for at least 15 years but a lack of sufficient money and a suitable site to build it have always been problems. Now we believe we have reached a point where a skatepark is affordable and achievable.

“From various budgets and accounts we have accumulated £250,000 pounds for which Maverick, with input from local skateboard users, have been able to design and apply for planning permission to build a park which meets most of the wants of users. West Northants Council have made land available to us where the park can be built and safely used.

“The town council is pleased to be able to deliver a long wanted leisure facility for the youngsters of Brackley which should give pleasure to the users for many years to come.

We are satisfied that we have offered a good plan which will give great satisfaction to users of the park for many years to come, thanks to the efforts of council officers and councillors who have worked hard on this project.”

The Brackley residents have a mixed view with many residents adding both objections and support to the application on the West Northants planning portal.

Comments have included: “We strongly object to the skate park as there is extremely limited parking and there is a major concern attracting drug use”, “We have no objections for a skate park for Brackley, however the town council must rethink the actual site to place it on”, “I am in full support of this fantastic planning idea,” and “Long overdue by about 20 years”.

When this newspaper asked residents about their thoughts on the skate park, one said: “The idea of the skate park is good and it will give the youths in Brackley somewhere to hang out and have an activity. Maybe the site needs to be reconsidered though as I wouldn’t want one outside my front door. There must be other places available.”

The local neighbourhood policing team sergeant has been involved in the initial consultation meeting as residents were concerned about the impact of parking on Candleford Court. The findings of a Crime Prevention Design Advisor were noted on the application: “There have been no objections to the siting of this facility at all. As with every new leisure type installation we are likely to experience a short period of embedding with the community and this will see increased calls to Police. Based on other park areas in Brackley I believe that this will be short lived and manageable.”

The application can be viewed here but time is running out for comments with a deadline of December 15.

https://snc.planning-register.co.uk/Planning/Display/WNS/2022/2029/FUL#undefined