On the 29th September Rushmoor Council put up fencing and disabled the lights at Pinehurst Roundabout Car Park, blocking all use by the public. This car park, known in the local community as UG, has been a central point in the Hampshire skateboarding scene for the past 30 years. 

By fencing it off and turning off the lights the council have made this area unusable to the community that has been built around it, directly affecting the local community that uses the space recreationally, including skateboarders, BMX riders, Rollerbladers, and Scooter Riders of all ages and backgrounds.  

This petition is to ask the council to come to an agreement about access and lighting with the local community who use the area, so we can continue to enjoy the space in the future. 

Brief History 

Pinehurst Roundabout Car Park, known locally as UG, has been famously well known as a 'street spot' by the skateboarding community in Farnborough and surrounding areas in Hampshire for over 30 years, with footage of the car park featuring in videos as early as 1990. 

With its smooth floor, painted curbs, and most importantly, cover from the weather & consistent lighting, UG has become one of the most used public spaces in Farnborough over 3 decades, despite what its original purpose was. This is very similar to the famous Southbank Undercroft area in Central London.  

Whilst there is a skatepark nearby, it is often unusable due to weather and ramp quality. UG is both covered and well lit, providing a great alternative for Spring, Autumn and especially Winter.  

A full history and timeline of skateboarding in the UG and Farnborough can be found below. 

Current Issues

The fences were put up and lights turned off in response to 'an increase in antisocial behaviour'. In reality, this may not prevent this but actually cause an increase in issues. Access to the site is still very easy, but now with no lighting the normal community cannot use it recreationally.

This new low light and inaccessibility seems likely to increase the level of 'antisocial behaviour', making vandalism amongst other things harder to detect. 

One of our main goals is to clarify that it is not the main community members that commits antisocial behaviour or crimes in the space, but a small number of incidents committed by others not involved with the UG community. We hope to make clear this difference to the council, and show that we are willing to work together with both them & the police to reduce/prevent these incidents in the future. 

Future Vision

The space has been closed as a car park since June 2021, with its only official use being a once a week car boot sale. There are future plans to completely renovate the whole roundabout, although no timeline put in place for this yet. 

We would ask to come to an agreement with the council where our community have permission to use this area for the time being as a safe space to practice skateboarding, BMX riding, and other sports. It is a great alternative to the skatepark when it is wet & dangerous to use.  

Further in the future, with the councils permission, we would like to add some small homemade obstacles we have made that would improve the space greatly. Some examples would be a small grind box, or maybe a rail. These could be stored in an out of the way corner of the space so not be any issue for the car boot once a week.

This would both greatly improve the experience of using UG as a space to practice, and bring together a sense of community. 

Full timeline of the UG and skateboarding in Farnborough

1981 - 1989
• Farnborough has one of the best vert ramps in the UK, creating a strong skateboarding scene with visitors from across the country and the US coming to skate it
https://fboromassive.tripod.com/pages/history.html
Lance Mountain of the bones brigade talking about skating Farnborough: https://blog.slamcity.com/first-last-lance-mountain/ 
Neil Blender talking about Farnborough:: http://www.caughtinthecrossfire.com/skate/neil-blender-lost-and-found/

1989 /1990
•  This is claimed to be when the UG was built (waiting to be confirmed),, and  the earliest that skateboarding would take place in the space. Although undocumented, there are people who were community locals who recall skating and seeing skating there

1993
•  Documented skateboarding in the form of early videos in the UG.

Chris Thomas of Farnham, a skateboarder who was a local in the 90s, said: ‘we were making videos down there in 93. That spot has been consistently skated since 1990. 32 years!!’

https://vimeo.com/chasone

1993 - 1996
•   The local community continued to use the UG as a positive space to practice, creating more videos documenting skateboarding in Farnborough
https://vimeo.com/user2841199
https://vimeo.com/chasone

1997- 2001
•    Local skateboarder at the time Sean Leahy created an online website called Farnborough Massive, documenting the local and surrounding skateboarding scene in Hampshire. The UG is listed as a key spot in the area at the time:
‘This carpark may only have a plethora of well-waxed curbs and islands, but it has been skated for years and is much loved by the local skating community. Plus, it is one of the only dry spots during rain. The UG rules.’
https://fboromassive.tripod.com/pages/spots/ug.html

2001-2002
•    Swivel Skateshop opens in Farnborough, less than 1 minute skate from UG.  It puts out a local skate video called 'Sweet n Sour’, showing the community skating and hanging out at the UG multiple times throughout.
https://vimeo.com/331739828
https://vimeo.com/333150392

•    The local community hosts a competition at UG, called ‘King of the Underground’.
It is sponsored by multiple companies, including well known UK skateboarding company Heroin Skateboards. Owner of the company was also a judge at the competition.
(Footage of competition at 41 minutes in https://youtu.be/K_dpvNR-RqA?t=2460 )

2002 - 2003
•    The local skateboard and BMX community work with the council to get a new skatepark in Farnborough built and it opens in late 2003.

https://regiment36.tripod.com/parkopen.html

This included groups Farnborough Massive, Swivel Skate Shop, Hampshire Playing Fields Association, the Community Safety Partnership, and Regiment 36, the official Rushmoor Skateboard and BMX Association. Regiment 36 was the first association of its kind in the UK.

( It is worth noting at this time there were over 4 separate groups in the community, all using the UG frequently as a local space to practice in)

•    Farnborough Massive celebrate getting the skatepark built by releasing a self produced skate video called ‘Come This Far’. Again throughout it shows footage of people skating at UG and using the space in a communal, positive manner.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_dpvNR-RqA 

2004 - 2019
•    Despite the new skatepark, UG continued to be many people’s first choice as the place to go skateboarding  in Farnborough for many years, and a failsafe for all during the wet months of the year.

‘Even building the skatepark didn’t attract the street skaters from the car park. ‘  Chris Thomas, Farnham

Over the years videos, photos, and magazine features of the space being skated still were regularly published:

- 2007 Photos of winter skate session
https://www.flickr.com/photos/cherryrig/2063019917/in/album-72157606892920936/

- 2009 Photo set
https://lightroom.adobe.com/shares/beed0c3d1b824a86988043ea1f298107

- 2011 skate footage
https://vimeo.com/34273891

- UG featured in multiple magazines 2013 and 2014
https://issuu.com/tweakerzine/docs/zine01
https://www.bulletcreative.com/house-of-vans-zine/
https://www.bulletcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/P1060110.jpg

2020
•     With the pandemic closing all skateparks in the country for an extended period of time, the community rallied around the UG, organising a successful ‘UG Jam’ event, all off the back of the community with no outside funding.  This is so successful it is put on again in 2021 and 2022.
https://bit.ly/3VrcL7r

•     In February 2022, Ella Stalska names UG in an article about her favourite skateboarding spots
https://www.hockeystation.com/blogs/news/ella-x-skateboarding-spots

June 2021
•      The council decide to shut several car parks for parking in the area, citing lack of use.

September 2022
•     Without warning the council fences off the UG and turns off the lights, preventing the community from using the space.