(Please read full description including the edit - thanks)

Historic ‘Bowes Lyon Skatepark’ in Stevenage is under threat of demolition (again).

Plans for the new Sports and Leisure Centre and car park currently include potentially using the site of the 1970s skatepark to build on.

Bowes Lyon was one of the first outdoor concrete skateparks built in Europe and is one of a handful of skateparks from this era still in existence worldwide. 

It has many significant stylistic and architectural period features including; a half pipe with no flat-bottom, a large, banked reservoir area, a (currently buried) bowl inspired by 1950s North American/Finnish swimming pools, and a ‘clover’ bowl with a large wall extension which, to my knowledge is unique internationally. 

The park has played an important role in UK counterculture over more than four decades hosting visits from U.S skate and BMX pros and holding demo events including from the legendary Bones Brigade.

Aside from all of the above, “Bowes” is still used and loved by a huge number of visitors of all ages and demographics and provides as much as ever, a haven for skateboarders, BMX, Scooter, inline and roller skaters. I first visited this wonderful place aged 10 - to this day my friends and I still skate it regularly during summer months (now in our 40s). 

The aim of this petition is to call for Stevenage Borough Council to preserve Bowes Lyon Skatepark in its entirety and to ask that they ensure that plans for the new Sports and Leisure Centre are adapted so they do not encroach on the site of this historic skatepark in any way, allowing it to continue to be used and enjoyed by future generations.

Please sign and share. 

Edit (20th June 2024 - 1,571 signatures at time of writing):

I have been informed by Stevenage Borough Council that they are no longer interested in buying the site of Bowes Lyon Skatepark from Hertfordshire County Council in order to build on it. This is obviously excellent news! But the fact that Hertfordshire County Council were willing to sell it to them is worrying. 

In light of this, I am assigning Hertfordshire County Council as the ‘Decision Makers’ for this petition which asks them to confirm both of the following:

1: The site of Bowes Lyon Skatepark is no longer under threat of being demolished, sold or redeveloped by anyone.

2: Hertfordshire County Council recognises Bowes Lyon Skatepark as an important historic and cultural asset to the town of Stevenage and commit to preserving and maintaining it for decades to come.