Young skaters have chosen the new design for Calne’s skatepark, alongside Calne Town Council, and hope to see the first stage built by the end of the year.

A contract to build it in Station Road has gone to Bristol company Wheelscape Skateparks, which specialises in bespoke designs.

It will start with phase one, in which the concrete bowl will be demolished and and new ramps and rails will be installed.

A report, by Mann Williams Consulting Civil and Structural Engineers, said the old skatepark was structurally inadequate and repairs were not recommended.

The whole project, in two phases, should cost £240,000.

It has been funded by grants including £50,000 from Hills Waste, £53,000 from Calne Town Council, money from the Calne Area Board and £27,000 from a Section 106 agreement attached to the Station Road housing development.

Wiltshire Council member Howard Marshall has been working with teenagers aged 16 to 18 in a task group. He said more fundraising would still be needed to pay for phase two.

He said: “Phase one is more or less the size of the current skate park and phase two is the add-on that we were going to build.

“In the original scheme, we didn’t plan to demolish the old skate park, but, because the old skate park was deemed to be unusable, we changed the plan.

“This is exciting news. We have worked hard for two years to achieve this and now we can see an end in sight.

“The park will be completely fenced in, with two gates, and that will be included in phase one, so that we’re complying with the wishes of the local community to ensure that it can be shut at dusk.”

Three companies applied to build the skatepark and Wheelscape Skateparks was chosen by the skatepark group and the town council.

Coun Marshall said: “The skatepark group looked at those tenders with names and costs taken out and chose the best one.

“The town council looked at all three tenders without knowing what the skatepark had chosen, but looked at value for money. They came out with the same person.”

Calne town clerk Linda Roberts said: “They didn’t actually want to change any part of the design. The successful tender had actually answered all the questions in the tender brief.

“The young people have worked really hard to try and raise their profile and at the same time raise money. They have managed to get £50,000 towards the total cost.”