Cheltenham is lacking a decent concrete skatepark facility and as such, the progress of many youngsters who ride skateboards/bmx/scooters etc. is being stifled.

There are many types of skatepark terrain aside from the standard quarterpipe/flatbank based parks that currently exist in Cheltenham already. The existing parks lack many fundamental terrain types and suffer from being dated, dilapidated and/or badly thought out.

For example, Pitville park has a very poor tarmac surface which is too rough for skateboards and dangerous for BMX riders due to its loose gravel surface. Montpellier skatepark is largely unusable due to its oval shape and components being crammed in far too tight. There are other problems with the existing parks, not least (as mentioned above) the lack of variation in terrain types and overcrowding.

The poor facilities are stifling the progress of talented local riders and additionally, this ultimately affects participation. Think of a tennis court with a 2 metre high net, or a gravel football pitch with off-centre goal posts. Most people would just not bother to use them and those who did would never achieve their full potential in the sports.

So in short, due to poor planning, decay from time passed, and the rapid advancement of the sports utilising skateparks, they are no longer fit for purpose as they may have been 10 or 15 years ago.

There are several new state-of-the-art concrete skateparks which have been recently built in smaller towns or even villages in Gloucestershire, such as Churchdown, Cinderford, Cirencester, Stonehouse, Moreton-in-Marsh and Tetbury to name a few. Unfortunately, most of the users of these facilities are young people, most of whom do not have the means to travel such distances from Cheltenham on a regular basis. Cheltenham is a large town and should have adequate facilities to serve the people who live within it.

There is a complete lack of any concrete facility in Cheltenham, which is the preferred substrate of most riders today due to its smooth, solid and shapeable properties. A new skatepark, properly planned and designed with end-user input, would benefit the town and nurture the talent of many local youngsters whilst undoubtably encouraging new participents.

Skateparks keep kids off streets and X-boxes! They provide a safe place for young people to be creative, practice their respective sports and have a community space to share with others who share their passions. Skatepark sports are high energy and thus great exercise.

This petition is to demonstrate to the council the amount of support there is for a project like this, and to help get them on-side to work with us to fund and create a state-of-the-art skatepark space in Cheltenham. We are willing to raise funds and help plan the future of the project but we need the council on our side.

So many thanks for reading, sign the petition and maybe we can get the ball rolling!

Cheers