Children urge parish council to get its skates on (From Oxford Mail)

Botley children urge parish council to get its skates on

1:00pm Saturday 21st July 2012 in News

YOUNGSTERS turned out in force to call on parish councillors to help provide a new skatepark in Botley.

They brandished placards outside Thursday’s North Hinksey Parish Council meeting.

A BMX rider then presented the council with an 806-name petition calling for a new facility at its Louie Memorial Fields.

A skating bowl known as the Botley Bowl was filled in after a van was dumped in it and set alight in 2009.

Jordan Crawford, 13, said youngsters either use the streets or are taken to skateparks in places like Witney and Abingdon.

He said: “A proper skatepark is needed to keep us off the streets.”

Rollerblader Tom Rankin, 16, pictured jumping over some friends, said: “It is somewhere to go instead of skating around here and having people shout at you.”

Dad-of-two Darren Blase urged councillors at Seacourt Hall to give £12,604 insurance from the fire to “kickstart” the plan. He said: “Parents and grandparents are very concerned about their children playing in car parks, on the roads and under the A34 bridge.”

Chairman of the council Andrew Pritchard declined requests to comment, saying it would be left to the council’s recreation and amenities sub-committee.

Campaigner Emily Hewson told the meeting it could cost between £80,000 to £125,000 and cash would be sought from organisations like Oxfordshire County Council and the Big Lottery Fund.