THE wheeled sports community in Wells has reacted positively to the design concept for a new skatepark in the city.
As reported in January’s Wells Voice, Russ Holbert and Ian Jennings from the Maverick Skateparks design and installation specialists displayed the design images at a meeting in Wells Town Hall attended by nearly 50 people.
They also announced that the skatepark survey consultation was being opened again over the Christmas period to give people a chance to make comments.
“The response to the design has been really, really positive – that’s gone down really well,” said Russ.
Maverick are working with Wells Skatepark Group on the project to replace the outdated facility at the site near Waitrose with a new concrete skatepark. The site poses particular challenges because of its topography and the difficulties of access for construction teams.
Maverick have installed skateparks locally at Shepton Mallet and Midsomer Norton. More recently they have built one at Bradford-on-Avon, which is similar to the Wells design in that it features a bowl and a street area.
“The Wells one is an interesting one because it’s quite a decent-sized facility,” said Russ. “It’s in keeping with the fact that it’s quite a large population. There’s a desire in the group to put in something quite special. The idea is to make it a stand-out facility for Wells and the surrounding area.
“The challenges are the site itself and the access, and then there’s the funding aspect – ensuring that the funding can meet the needs of the project. It’s one of those things, it’s a bit of an unknown until you get to that point.”
Wells Skatepark Group’s fundraising target is £500,000, with some money raised already.
“I think ultimately the group are minded to go for the very best thing they can get and we need to support them in that cause, and if they fall short but they’ve been aiming high they are still going to end up with something special,” said Russ.
The amount of funding that is raised will start to dictate what sort of skatepark is possible, he said, and another review of the design may be required.
He said that conversations are going on with John Lewis about using the Waitrose car park for access to the site, and that they seem very supportive of the project.
The aim is for a planning application for the skatepark to be submitted to Somerset Council in the next few months.