THE MAINTENANCE OF HORSHAM SKATE PARK 

AND OPTIONS IN RELATION TO THE EXTENSION 

Every Horsham Skatepark user is invited to a meeting at

HORSHAM YOUTH CLUB,

HURST ROAD, HORSHAM 

on 

WEDNESDAY 29TH JUNE

at

6.30pm

The meeting will update you about progress (or lack of it) and will present some options as to how the Council could progress the extension given the constraints of the budget and the problems with the pipe belonging to Southern Water

PLEASE SEE THE INFORMATION ON THE REVERSE OF THIS FLYER

 IF YOU DO NOT ATTEND YOU DO NOT HAVE A DEMOCRATIC SAY IN ANY DECISIONS TAKEN SO SHOULD NOT COMPLAIN AFTERWARDS IF YOU DO NOT AGREE WITH THEM

 If you cannot attend and wish to e-mail me comments in advance use

trevor.beadle@hosham.gov.uk

NB. Message to the current site user representatives…………………. Please accept my apologies for not being able to consult with you before this meeting. The skate jam was too good an opportunity to miss to get the best possible turn out on Wednesday.

 Trevor Beadle

Community Development Manager

 01403 215493

 The problem

 You are probably aware that the Council’s best efforts to redesign the extension in conjunction with the users without moving the pipe have come to nothing.  The two main reasons for this are –

 a.          whatever design we come up with, Southern Water refuse to let us build over the pipe.

2. the cost of the ideas coming forward have proved way over the cost of the £25,000 available to complete stage 1  of the extension

 Add to this the fact that the completed extension had been costed at around £80,000 to include stages 2 and 3 - and that bids to the national lottery have been rejected - you can see that some difficult choices need to be made.

 Those involved 18 months ago when the extension was agreed will recall that the plan was to complete the extension in three phases. Phase 1 was due for completion in October 2004.  At this stage the extension would have comprised 3 tiers with ramps joining tier 2 to tier 3. Any further development was dependent on additional funding being secured.

 When the pipe was discovered three feet higher than shown on plans the original design no longer worked. Redesigns to include a bowl actually pushed up the project costs way beyond £80,000. Although the budget has been increased from £25,000 to £35,000 thanks to the efforts of the HSSA it is going to cost £15,000 of this just to move the pipe!

 The option

 Last week I was on site with site user representatives to agree repairs to the existing park. A new idea came forward.  That is, to substantially reduce the size and ambition of the extension to £20,000 and reinvest the £15,000 we would have spent moving the pipe in the existing park.  This would incorporate a nominal redesign, rebuild of rotten ramps and reskinning of others.

 The extension would be significantly less challenging but would enable us to relocate the micro ramp onto this area which would serve the younger users and we would replace it with a bigger and more challenging feature on the existing park.

What do you think?

 I am aware that this proposal does not create a new facility on anything like the scale originally envisaged but it does seem to make the most logical use of the resources available. It also creates a facility which will be easier to maintain in the longer term.

 Please come along to the meeting on Wednesday 29 June at 6.30 pm in Horsham Youth Club, Hurst Road, to have your say on this option.  It will not be taken forward unless there is a democratic vote in support of such action by the users.