MEMBERS of the public who responded to a survey on the location for a new skateboard park in Devizes have rejected The Green as a possible site.

The Green was recommended by independent consultants who believed it was a good site. The consultants were also asked to appraise land by the tennis courts at the back of Devizes Leisure Centre and said that it should be considered as a serious option.

The town council then asked the public through its newspaper The Messenger for their views on where a skate park should be sited. A total of 192 people who responded rejected The Green as a site, while 90 others said they would not mind it being there.

Devizes Leisure Centre was the overwhelming choice of people who gave a preferred site, attracking 137 votes.

At a town council meeting on Tuesday, councillors voted against locating a skate park on The Green and agreed to lobby Kennet District Council, Wiltshire County Council and Devizes School governors to persuade them to locate it by the leisure centre.

Devizes School governors have previously stated that they would be unhappy about a skate park being sited on their land next to the leisure centre.

Coun Ian Hopkins said at the meeting: "Kennet District Council and the governors of Devizes School should finally get the message that the majority of people in Devizes want a skate park at the leisure centre and nowhere else.

"They need to reconcile that demand by putting a skate park in the confines of the leisure centre."

Coun Ray Taylor expressed disquiet that The Trust for Devizes had galvanised support by asking its members to fill in slips it had produced against The Green site, but councillor Adrian Mills said the trust had a right to ask its members for support.

Skateboarders have been without a site since the town council was ordered to move the skate park equipment from Hillworth Park in February 2002 by a county court judge.