Celebrations for New Skatepark
Crowds gathered in Borough Park on Saturday to celebrate the opening of the new Totnes skatepark.
The opening of the skatepark is the culmination of more than twelve years work by the local community supported by councilors from Devon County, South Hams and Totnes Town Council. The driving force was local young people fed up with the poor quality of the existing skate park.
The campaign for the new facility faced numerous hurdles. At times the challenges of securing the finance and the necessary planning permission seemed insurmountable. The local community set up a skatepark group and were undeterred by the obstacles. The group received widespread support from many local individuals and businesses. A crowdfunding campaign raised over £40,000. This was supplemented by funding from Sport England and a grant of £150,000 from South Hams Council.
The success of the campaign by the community group is all the more remarkable given the widespread impression that Devon County and South Hams have been reluctant to invest in the Totnes locality, in comparison with other towns in the area. The grant of £150,000 was the first capital investment in Totnes since 2013 and comes at a time when Devon County Council decided, without consultation, to close the youth facilities at the Rushbrook Centre.
Young people seemed very pleased with the new skatepark, which was built by Maverick Skateparks, a renowned national company specializing in the design and building of skateparks. Remarkably after more than 12 years of campaigning, it took less than twelve weeks from start to finish to build the new skatepark. As a bonus Maverick Skateparks undertook to refurbish the old skatepark to make an area suitable for people new to skating.
The new skatepark is already being well used by skaters as well as young people with bikes and scooters. Bike riders are aware of possible conflicts with skaters and would love to have their own pumptrack.
The opening celebrations were tinged with sadness about the death of Max, who lived in Totnes and loved skating died after a skating accident in Plymouth in 2019. Max’s sisters unveiled a plaque on the side of the new skatepark in memory of Max. Tracey Swan, Max’s mother spoke at the opening about Max and his creativity, about how much he loved skating and how delighted he would have been by the new skatepark. Tracey finished by imploring all skatepark users to always wear a helmet.
It is clear that the skatepark will be well used and enjoyed by young people in Totnes. It is a great demonstration of what can be achieved when the community works together on a project. Hopefully it will be an inspiration for other campaigns to improve public facilities in Totnes.