New Tadley skatepark moves closer

The proposed redevelopment of the skatepark in Tadley Common has moved a step closer.

As reported in January this year by the Newbury Weekly News, Tadley Town Council has accepted a quote from Canvas Spaces for the £150,000 redevelopment of the facility in Tadley Common.

The council has now submitted a planning application for the new skatepark to Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council, and is hoping that the facility will be approved later this year.

The new skatepark will be circular and will be made of concrete, and it is hoped it will last for at least 25 years.

Town councillor Jo Slimin, who was recently elected to the borough council, said: “What we’ve put in is the plan that was originally presented to us.

“The application gives people the opportunity to make comments and I’m hoping members of the public will take the opportunity to respond, hopefully positively.”

To pay for the facility, £20,000 will come from the council’s reserves and £30,000 from a Public Works Loan.

The remaining £100,000 meanwhile will be raised through grants.

Ms Slimin continued: “We’ve made some applications [for grant money], some of which haven’t been successful unfortunately, but that’s the way of the world.

“But we have other sources that we can go to and we’re confident as a council that we’ll be able to raise the money to meet the costs quoted to us.

“As a council we have to be sure we have the money, and we’re pretty confident that we’ve got people who’ve given us agreements in principle that any shortfall is met through other sources other than going out for external grants.”

The current skatepark, which according to the borough council needs to be replaced, was opened in 2010 in memory of two Tadley youths who died in a car crash.

Jake Burden, 18, and Lee Robinson, 16, died when the car they were passengers in crashed at a petrol station on the A340 near Sherborne St John in August 2007.

Nicholas Warnock, 22, of Basingstoke, was jailed for five years for causing death by dangerous driving.

Money from a fund set up in their memory went towards the project, which involved replacing ramps, skating and BMX equipment and relaying the park’s surface.

The memorial to the teens at the skatepark will be kept.