Hey people, Thanks for signing the petition showing support for a new skate park in Charlton Park, the support has been incredible. When Andy and me set it up we were hoping we'd get at least 20 so we wouldn't feel too stupid! As it stands we have 691 signatures online and maybe another 50 or so physical signatures. Which is great. But it's not game over. The petition was created in response to another group actively gathering support against the building of a skate park. That group have kept a low profile online but have been working hard over the last couple of months collecting signatures door-to-door and last week their petition was presented to Greenwich Council, with 730 signatures. The anti-skate group are calling themselves, “Friends of Charlton Park”. They’re not recognised as an official Friends group by the council and they don’t have open meetings or committee elections. You basically have to be anti-skate park to get an email reply. The “Friends” group has been a useful front for them to push their anti-skate and anti-young people views. However, the anti-skate park group aren't stupid. These are well connected people with friends in high places, and it's fair to say that none of them are skaters. Reports from various sources suggest that among the reasons given on the doorstep for opposing the skate park were that skate parks attract drugs and crime and, you know, young people generally. When we talk to the anti-skate group they all say the same thing, they are not against a skate park, they like skaters, they just think the skate park is due to be built in the wrong place, and the right place it seems is always 'anywhere else'. So what next? Well, firstly we want to make sure our petition is also delivered to the Council. As it stands we have about the same number of signatures and we don't want that, we want more. A lot more. It would be great to get over 1000 signatures, which would really make the council sit up and take notice. So if you only do one more thing to help us please forward the details of this petition to your friends and family, share it on social media, write the URL on a balloon and release it into the air, whatever you can do to spread the word... https://www.change.org/p/greenwich-council-show-your-support-for-the-proposed-skate-park-in-charlton-park After that? Not sure. One option may be to have an event in Charlton Park where we get as many skaters as possible to show up and generally have a good time and show the anti-brigade that skaters like to skate and have fun and generally manage to do it without insulting passers-by. There may be other options too, we're keeping a few ideas under wraps for now. So, thanks again for signing. We'll be in touch with another update soon. In the meantime if you live in Greenwich Borough and you have any questions about the campaign or ideas you are welcome to get in touch at paul@redhotbelgian.com. Cheers, Paul and Andy. Charlton SE7