Plans for new skatepark in the 'Stow

[Longun]

So I flicked through my copy of the free local rag the other night and came across news of a public consultation for the refurbishment of Lloyd Park in Walthamstow which currently has a 'BMX/Skate' area (i.e a few badly laid out metal amps). Anyway it seems that they are looking at replacing this and (hopefully) putting something better in it's place.
So I wandered down to the consultation and spoke with the architects and council people and on Tuesday I'll be going along to a 'Task-Group' meeting (got to love council bureaucracy). I know they have done some consultation with local youth leaders etc but I thought it wouldn't hurt to get involved and try to push them in the direction of a nice concrete park.
Not sure exactly what this meeting will cover but I've been trying to do some homework on park building and thought I'd check if anyone has any useful input. I know Saffy was built be Dreamworks and that Gravity have done quite a few others over here - anyone else?
I believe the budget is about £250k so that should be viable. I mentioned Saffy to them and they mentioned places like Warrington.
Anyways, I thought I'd keep people up to date with how this all pans out.

[jedi]

make em deep bowls

[username]

wow! Hopefully they'll get it finished it before we all are 60

Camden and Canterlows might be a good place for finding out some useful info.

[stumpy]

Or take em to The spot that John Dye an the boys built up near tottenham hale.

[username]

Or take em to The spot that John Dye an the boys built up near tottenham hale.

What was that stumpy, is it still there?

It would be nice if they would spare 1/250 of their budget (in Council wood) to build a half decent mini ramp NOW!

Please point out to them from me, sitting here in agony that what they have there and at Chingford are fekking deathtraps.

[TwoBobRob]

Andy Peerless (Fearless Ramps) offers a consultation service for concrete projects, it would be a good shout to position him between the park builders and the council suits   

[RADHAB]

Or contact this guy, Dave Downey, he's the officer for extreme sports in Crawley, he may be able to guide you in the right direction. 01293 585355.

www.crawleyfreestyle.co.uk

[Longun]

Cheers for all that. Things that came out of the first meeting were;
Concrete favoured over wood - excellent
It appears that there is an underground pipe located under the chosen area which will almost certainly affect potential layouts - bad
They are keen to have input from local skaters - appears good
The council youth sport co-ordinator (or whatever his title is) reckons that the skaters he has spoken to favour street type obstacles over bowls - oh dear
Anyway, I've given them a bunch of stuff about the importance of design and info on places like Saffy and Warrington and the like, and there's another meeting scheduled for mid-Jan.

I'll let you know how things progress.

[username]

Sounds good, thanks for the update Whatever they do can't be worse (or even anywhere near as bad) than what's there right now. Perhaps we can overrule the street section kids by having a petition or poll on here collecting weight for the bowl vote - they can't just ignore a huge list of real names and there must be more of us than the kids who want ledges.

Any indication of when they are planning on starting to build?

and thanks for the pm stumpy!

[TwoBobRob]

I fancy half your problems will be their continuous use of the word 'skater'.....   

[jedi]

im not in favour of street stuff in a skatepark

the roads are full of the stuff 

[stumpy]

Perhaps we can overrule the street section kids by having a petition or poll on here collecting weight for the bowl vote - they can't just ignore a huge list of real names and there must be more of us than the kids who want ledges.

Any indication of when they are planning on starting to build?

and thanks for the pm stumpy!

I'm down with the poll or petition, the more bowls we have can only be a good thing,
an no worries Dave, hope ya check it out

Stumpy

[Longun]

Dave, if you currently use the Waltham Forest 'facilities' there's no reason why you shouldn't have a say in these developments, and indeed they seem keen to take on the views/ideas of users.

There's some stuff here about the overall park development and some contact details http://www.walthamforest.gov.uk/parks-for-people