Chippenham skate park hopes dashed (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

what a complete farce, couldnt arrange a free one in a brewery.

How is it that what a councilor wants - a councilor gets? Regardless of what the public are saying, when I lived up North something like this went on and the councilors were shown the door almost, so why can't they all agree, because they like wasting our money, if we all took a vote then I'm sure we can get rid of the likes of Coun Chris Caswill, maybe we should just stick it in his back garden because I bet it's big enough like his head.

10 years of broken promises and wasted time.
When it was closed in 2002 due to noise complaints the local kids were told it "probably wouldn't be re-opened that summer" - but were told that "several possible sites were being investigated" I think someone was telling porkies. SOMEONE (or some "group") has made a determined effort to ensure it hasn't re-opened - ANYWHERE, and has used any means possible to prevent it.
Could someone perhaps indicate the cost, inc.the purchase of the original equipment - of ALL meetings, investigations, consultations, etc. directly concerning the old and replacement skate parks - then PUBLISH the total cost of taxes wasted by our councillors.
The information may assist in deciding who NOT to vote for - or what questions may make the candidates squeak.

I walked past the council's offices at lunch time and I reckon the skate park could easily be accommodated btween the offices and the river - it's pretty much an unused area. Being overlooked by our boys in blue might be sensible. Also, it's too far from Sadlers Mead for even those nimbies to complain.

It was once located temporary by the side of the olympiad, why can't it go back there, because if it was sorted tomorrow then the councilors wouldn't have nothing to do, I bet they all sit there at their annual Christmas party agreeing on things they can drag out, and this is one of them, I bet this will carry on until someone stands up to them, stop wasting our money and stick it by the side of the Olympiad next to the council offices!

This is stupid, its been to long to keep on changing minds. If something isn't done soon people will just give up, and with councils and the government making a big thing about fitness unless you want every teenager in chippenham to go out for a run every night then we have a problem. Not only that but skaters are getting yelled at by shop, road and street users because were a risk, well tough. it NEEDS TO BE DONE SOON because i know if i hit someone on a pavement then i would just say: "Well sorry complain to the council not me, i have no where else to go!"

Alex101 wrote:
This is stupid, its been to long to keep on changing minds. If something isn't done soon people will just give up, and with councils and the government making a big thing about fitness unless you want every teenager in chippenham to go out for a run every night then we have a problem. Not only that but skaters are getting yelled at by shop, road and street users because were a risk, well tough. it NEEDS TO BE DONE SOON because i know if i hit someone on a pavement then i would just say: "Well sorry complain to the council not me, i have no where else to go!"

Wrong - you'd be in trouble up to your ears. Running into an eldely pedestrian could cause them serious injury - and I for one would blame you. Running into some of the other pedestrians in Chippenham could result in injury to yourself.
I appreciate you're probably quite young. You have the right to be seriously ticked off with your councillors - but don't risk alienating people who might support you.
Go to Monkton Park - make an appointment to speak to Councillor Scott and ask her what the hell the council thinks they're playing at and how much MORE money they intend to waste PRETENDING they're attempting to resolve the skatepark issue. And good luck, too.

e l d e r l y - apologies!

"Wrong" how patronising notscot, Alex101 was expressing a point of view which he is entitled to do so and I am sure he is fully aware of the potential consequences.
Actually I think Alex101 has a point. While not defending such action, in reality he could indeed run amok on the streets of Chippenham bashing into who ever go in the way and would most likely get away with it as the police do not have the resources to catch them .
Maybe if this sort of thing did occur the council might be under more pressure to really get off their backsides and do something about it.
It is the council who are becoming alienated, not the skateboarders.

The kids don’t care where the skate part is they just want one, so council, do your job and provide one.

scubi wrote:
"Wrong" how patronising notscot, Alex101 was expressing a point of view which he is entitled to do so and I am sure he is fully aware of the potential consequences.
Actually I think Alex101 has a point. While not defending such action, in reality he could indeed run amok on the streets of Chippenham bashing into who ever go in the way and would most likely get away with it as the police do not have the resources to catch them .
Maybe if this sort of thing did occur the council might be under more pressure to really get off their backsides and do something about it.
It is the council who are becoming alienated, not the skateboarders.

The kids don’t care where the skate part is they just want one, so council, do your job and provide one.

I wasn't being patronising.
I didn't say he/she didn't have the right to an opinion - I DID say that it would be best not to alienate people who could support them by making the remark:
"because i know if i hit someone on a pavement then i would just say: Well sorry complain to the council not me, i have no where else to go!"
Do I believe that Alex101 didn't understand that? No - I believe that poster more than capable of understanding what I'd said and why.
(The police don't have the resources to catch someone running amok?? What has that got to do with the price of fish??)
And on their current record, NO - an accident wouldn't push the current incumbents into doing anything other than having another disagreement.

Waste another two years on this decision Chippenham Area Board and you will have taken twice as long as World War II lasted. No wonder the youngsters of today consider politicians to be irrelevent.

I don't think anyone disagrees with the need for a skate park but surely we don't need to ruin the peace and enjoyment of others to get it. Of course it shouldn’t go in Monkton Park, anymore than it should go in John Coles Park. There's a wide cross section of the community who would be badly impacted - young and old alike - who enjoy the park for relaxation and recreation, who’s interests are being completely ignored here. And what about the children's playground that would be next to it? We all saw what happened last time with needles, broken bottles, rubbish and constant noise, most of which (apart from the skateboard noise) wasn't due to the skate boarding youngsters but a result of an unsavoury element, some from outside Chippenham, attracted by the easy access from the station. We don't need to ruin an excellent community asset like Monkton Park when there are lots of other options, several of which have been unjustifiably dismissed by the so called Task Force. With regards the delay - we'd have already had a skatepark in Stanley Park by now, if not for some obscure objection by the Town Council. Good job the elections are coming up!

notscot wrote:

scubi wrote:
"Wrong" how patronising notscot, Alex101 was expressing a point of view which he is entitled to do so and I am sure he is fully aware of the potential consequences.
Actually I think Alex101 has a point. While not defending such action, in reality he could indeed run amok on the streets of Chippenham bashing into who ever go in the way and would most likely get away with it as the police do not have the resources to catch them .
Maybe if this sort of thing did occur the council might be under more pressure to really get off their backsides and do something about it.
It is the council who are becoming alienated, not the skateboarders.

The kids don’t care where the skate part is they just want one, so council, do your job and provide one.

I wasn't being patronising.
I didn't say he/she didn't have the right to an opinion - I DID say that it would be best not to alienate people who could support them by making the remark:
"because i know if i hit someone on a pavement then i would just say: Well sorry complain to the council not me, i have no where else to go!"
Do I believe that Alex101 didn't understand that? No - I believe that poster more than capable of understanding what I'd said and why.
(The police don't have the resources to catch someone running amok?? What has that got to do with the price of fish??)
And on their current record, NO - an accident wouldn't push the current incumbents into doing anything other than having another disagreement.

Please don't apologise notscot, most people who are patronising don't recognise the fact they do it. Let me explain. By saying you thought Alex101 was quite young and then lecturing him on the errors of his ways implied that you thought he was stupid and needed telling. Yet in your response to me you said you thought he was already aware the implications. So why lecture him in the first place? And just so you are aware, yes I was being patronising then too.
Just in case you were not aware, the reference to the police was about not being caught if the poster should run amok and collide in to people. Alex101 would simply run away, people would just stand and stare possibly helping the poor person who got hit (but I wouldn't rely on it). There would be no point in calling the police because either they wouldn't care or wouldn't respond quick enough to do anything anyway. So our poster would get away with it. No, I don't know what it has to do with the price of fish either...does anybody else know?
You are right of course, a single "accident" wouldn't but lots of them would force the council to take action and do something about it rather than sitting on the fence. You never know they may provide a skate park.
You know perfectly well that the council would not listen to a thousand skateboarders, let alone a single one trying to make a point.