Future plans for the Skate Park

CREATING A CENTRE FOR THE COMMUNITY OF SAFFRON WALDEN.

SAFFRON WALDEN COMMUNITY HUB
AND SKATE PARK
EXTENSION REPORT

The Why, What and How.

The Skate park as a COMMUNITY

Before the Skate park was opened in 2007, there was very little for young people in Saffron Walden
to do. Skaters were forced to skate in car parks and on pavements. This was both a nuisance for
pedestrians and residents and dangerous for the skaters themselves.

Since it’s opening, the skate park has been immensely popular, not just with skaters and BMXers
but also as a social place for all young people. In other words it created a young community of
people with the same or similar interests.

The Skate Park’s function as a community makes it a place where youth work and community
police initiatives can flourish. It is a place where respect, waiting your turn and looking after the
less able or younger members is paramount as well as being a place where many of the non-skaters
can learn a new skill by getting into the sport. These are skills that transfer back into the whole
community with the benefits felt by all.

Why do we NEED to extend the Skate park?

At times the skate park is overcrowded, particularly at the weekends. Crowded skate parks are
dangerous for skaters and in time, competent, dedicated skaters move to other less crowded places
and the skate park becomes the hang-out destination for gangs and anti-social behaviour.
Our skate park is currently hugely popular but could become a victim of it’s own success with new
houses and a supermarket planned nearby, which will result in added pressure of numbers wanting
to use the skate park. Now we have a unique chance to build upon our current success and plan for a
sustainable future for the One Minet Skate Park.
The skating lessons at the weekend and in the holidays are bringing in younger members and their
families and are very popular with parents and grandparents. There is nowhere else providing
tuition outdoors that has free admission. Children travel long distances to attend the lessons.
The Tourist Information Centre report an upsurge of skaters coming into the town and parents
whose children are at the lessons now get a Saffron Walden brochure so that they can use other
facilities and shops in the town centre. Thus the skate park has a measurable impact on the
prosperity of the town. For example in recent weeks two shops have come into the town as a direct
result of the skate park.
Fat Face chose Saffron Walden for their new shop as a direct result of “the incredible skate park
which embodies the brand’s motto of ‘life is out there’”. Two management positions and eight store
crew positions have been created in the shop. The new skate shop, Skate 87, is finding its feet in
Debden Road – again another retail opportunity created by the proximity of the skate park.
However, not all young people in Saffron Walden can or have a desire to learn to skate. Expanding
the Skate Park to include a community/youth hub would give us a chance to create a fantastic space
that can be used by non-skaters of all ages. It is a great opportunity to create a new facility offering
art, photography, music and film-making. At present this sort of community facility is not
available in Saffron Walden.
What we LACK at the moment

Toilets.
Other than a drain at the back of the small maintenance hut, complete with a modesty board, we
lack toilets. The drain may be a basic solution for the many males who use the park, but it is highly
unacceptable to expect young girls to use this. It is not right to expect young people and children to
use these totally primitive unsanitary conditions. There are certainly health and safety issues and
child protection issues to be addressed here.

Shelter.
In the summer heat the outdoor facilities make the skate park an ideal place to socialise. However
when the weather is cold and wet it is impossible to be sitting outside. Most sports have some sort
of clubhouse or building, which they can use when the weather is bad.

Refreshments and Seating.
Skating is thirsty work and as a result of that, the skaters need somewhere to get drinks and
refreshments without having to walk up to the shops. Although most of the skaters are from Saffron
Walden and are old enough not to need accompanying adults, many of the park-users rely on
parents for transport, or are young enough to need accompanying parents. The site is attracting
more and more young families who come to join in, picnic and enjoy the fun. It would be good if
there was somewhere for skaters and adults to sit in comfort with their children if the weather is
cold, somewhere to sit in the warm and get a coffee or access the internet. Parents tell us again
and again how much they would appreciate and use a cafe.

This principle is the same for those socialising with their friends and visitors; there is nowhere to sit
and talk in comfort. Visiting Councils, and we do get a lot wanting to know about the park and so
benefit from our experience, have to huddle in the plastic bus shelter looking at facts and figures.
There are very, very few facilities in the town for young people in particular and few for young
families on a budget. The skate park is free and encourages healthy, outdoor exercise, therefore
expanding it can only be a good thing.

THE COMMUNITY/YOUTH HUB
So the real centre of this new area would be the building of a community/youth hub with adjustable
space – this would be situated at the top of the site looking down over the new skate park extension.

The Hub will contain space for:

· A social enterprise café, where all sections of the community can gather.
· Space for performance, particularly music and dance and art and theatre.
· Toilets.
· A shop selling skating and bike gear, (especially the safety equipment needed and it would
provide first aiders on site).
· There would be room to socialise with friends in the dry and hold the Skate Group meetings
(at present we huddle in the plastic shelter or gather under Turpin’s overhanging porch.)
· Room for lessons indoors if the weather was wet
· Somewhere for parents and visitors to enjoy a cup of coffee whilst watching the skaters.
· Some film editing facilities are envisaged; skating and filming go hand in hand and this
would bring in other voluntary, community bodies such as the S/W Camera club and the
Saffron Screen, whom we have worked with in the past.

At a point in the future it may be that more youth activities presently provided by the Croft may be
re-located there with a music studio complete with disabled access (the cellar at the Croft, which is
presently used, can be only accessed by a flight of steps) and meeting rooms for youth and
voluntary bodies and the community as a whole.

Creating space for activities other than skating would be a huge boost to the town and increase the
usage of the park to more than just skaters, BMXers and bladers.

We have been researching facilities around the country and in Bristol a similar
community/youth hub is already in use.

We would hope that our facilities will have a bright, fresh appearance and we want the building to
be as “green” as possible with features such as water harvesting, SUDS and alternative energy
sources.

The Bristol Hub is designed to make the space flexible with different modules (known as an
Armadillo structure) for different purposes, which if needed, can be opened up to create one large
space. For example the individual spaces can be used as rehearsal spaces for different art forms, and
once opened the large space will make an ideal performance area for shows and music performance.
We also envisage a parking area and a picnic site with lots of benches, green space and trees. One
of the exciting features of the picnic/amenity area would be the inclusion of SUDS, which are now
the preferred approach to managing rainfall from hard surfaces. These are shallow ditches and
water features which make great places for paddling, making mud pies and having a fun time and
have the added benefit of being beneficial for wild life. We want to make the whole site
sustainable and very “green”. Add some exciting skate-able paths around the trees for the younger
scooter and tricycle riders and everybody has a fun space to enjoy. It will be a real community
asset.

Our PLANS for the SKATEPARK EXTENSION
The Skate group plan to extend the skate-able surface to include:
· a snake run (long, shallow skate-able bowl)
· and a full pipe (like the one illustrated in Bonsor Skate Park, Vancouver)
An example of Southsea Skate Park’s Snake run
Both these would further increase the world-class reputation we have.

The opportunity for the community and the skatepark
As we are bordered by the Thaxted Road, Turpins and the green space jealously guarded by Tukes
Way, the area in the adjoining field is the only direction in which the skate park can expand. We are
asking for much needed facilities for a highly successful skate park. In addition we will have the
advantage of formally bringing film, music, performance and art to many more people in the
neighbouring community. We already have many projects growing and happening at the park but
we are very weather dependent and this hub would mean we could pursue so much more. This is a
once in a lifetime opportunity that will benefit young people and families and the whole
community.

We feel that is the right time to bring this project forward so that it can be included in the
Neighbourhood Plan, which is being currently formulated. The Skate Group ask that you give your
blessing to this enterprise and seize this ground-breaking opportunity.

See also “Making the future park sustainable“.

[Want to read this in a nice format with lovely pictures and plans? Download the pdf: Saffron Walden Skate Park Plans for the Future]

Full pipe built by Dreamland in Italy

cateogories: News