There’s a strong possibility that the recently refurbished skate park in Ventnor will be demolished.
The Ventnor town council voted last night that they couldn’t pay the £60k that the IW council is asking to keep it open.
We’re digging into this and will report more shortly Below is extra we’ve found out.
This looks like it’s not far off happening so, if you want to keep it, you’re going to have to make your views known sharpish.
How did this come about?
Here’s what we understand of the background.
Back in March 2007 £10k was raised to rebuild the ramp. Rob Chuter spent loads of effort building the ramp more or less alone. There were a few of fund raising events in Ventnor, one of which attracted 2-300 people.
Fast forward to now – We understand that IW Council has said that somebody has to be responsible for the skate park; £10m of liability insurance is needed (originally this was £5m, but was doubled for some reason); and that £60,000 is needed to finish the work on the park.
IW Council has said they can’t pay for it and passed it on to Ventnor Town Council, who last night voted that they couldn’t pay it either (fair enough as their budget is around £100k/year).
Now it’s fallen through those cracks, it appears that there’s very little chance of it staying open – in fact, they’re planning to dismantle it.
We understand that some of the more out of date councillors questioned if anyone was still skate boarding these days – Err, yes grandad it wasn’t just a blip in the 70s.
Quite why it’s got to this point before any of the public (or press) knew about it, is unclear.
Some people are wondering why the council appears to be so keen to get the park closed (can it really cost £60k to get it finished?).
Skateboarding is very much alive, as skateboard filmmaker John Cattle tells us, “there’re more stake boarders around on the Island than there has been for years.”
The student bus rider has just been doubled in price, so what are kids to do if they can’t afford to leave Ventnor? Sit in the park and get drunk?
What Can Be Done?
Currently the course of action is unclear, BUT to get the ball rolling, it could well be worth getting down to the meeting at the Community Projects tonight if you don’t want this to happen [update: we hear that this is not a public meeting, but the issue is being discussed and they may open doors to the public – tune back later for update].
Don’t forget – Closures like this occur if the powers-that-be think that there’s no support.
Here’s a vid shot at the end of last year at the Ventnor ramp.
