The group who are trying to bring new skatepark to Wellingborough

Members of Wellingborough’s skating community say they are pushing a bid to replace the Bassett’s Park skatepark as far as they can.

The group have managed to secure the funding necessary (about £125,000) to build the skatepark and are now at the stage of planning permission.

The Wellingborough Skatepark Community group is run by five individuals: Jake Campion, Lewis Warboys, Dean Stone, Callum Hardy and Sam Batchelor.

Jake said: “We’re all local people that use the skatepark and have done for years. We’re a tight knit community, just trying to push this as far as we can.

“We’ve got to the point where we've been pushing the council for a while, got some funding allocated, the only thing stopping us now is planning permission. We need to bring as much attention and voices to this as we can.”

There has, however, been some negative reaction on social media.

Jake said: “There’s been a bit of opposition over the location of where the skatepark is. There’s people saying it doesn’t belong in the park and they want a different location but due to the funding process it was confirmed years ago that the skatepark has to be in that park, Bassett’s Park, the money has been raised for that park.

“Some people are worried about the history of the park but there’s already a skatepark there, that’s been there for years.”

As well as the location, another concern that has been put to the group online is anti-social behaviour and crime.

Jake said: “Anti-social behaviour and crime, the current skatepark is the main cause of it. It’s decrepit, full of hidey holes where people go down there and deal drugs and do stupid anti-social behaviour stuff.

“The skatepark has had anti-social behaviour but that’s not necessarily the users of the skatepark. Especially with the current design of the park, it’s got places to sit under the ramps, hidden from the public, and that’s where people come down and cause trouble. If it was to be pushed into a public area, we’d then deal with that kind of anti-social behaviour.

“The main aim is to move the park up to the top of the field so there's more open areas, which means more of a deterrent to people who want to sit there and take drugs. They’ll be next to a main road and more public visibility displaces them.“

They’ve also been questioned on the potential noise levels the skatepark would cause.

Jake said: “I understand the noise worry but the current skatepark hasn’t had any noise issues. Most skateboarders go home at 8pm when it gets dark.”

The group believes that the skatepark would not just benefit them but the entire community, bringing more tourism to Wellingborough, helping local schools and helping to push the younger generation away from crime by giving them a place to go.

They recently repainted the current skatepark using their own time and money.

Jake said: “It looks beautiful now and since then we’ve seen so many people and families walk past and look, bring their kids to skate, scooter and ride their bike. It just shows that even something small like that has such a big impact on the community.”

For more information visit the group’s Facebook group.