Since the last skatepark was demolished in 2013, there is evidence of four times the village has been asked whether they want a skatepark.

2013 Poll by Parish Council

Full details of the poll can be seen in the following PDF. In summary, it was 84% in favour, 16% against.

BHPC 20131210 Bar Hill Skate Park Survey Responses Report (PDF)

2021 Bar Hill News survey about S106 money

There was a survey done via the Bar Hill news in 2021 about what to spend Section 106 money. For those that don't know, when a company builds new housing, or new developments nearby they are legally required to contribute funds to local groups, e.g. Parish or Town Councils, to mitigate the impact of their builds. See S106 for more details.

The village was told that a new skatepark was beyond the scope of what was affordable with S106 money and yet still the option with the most number of votes was for a skatepark.

BHPC 2021 poll (PDF)

2022 Fete Questionnaires

In 2022, members of the Skatepark Task Group surveyed members of the public who came to the village fete. Three target groups were asked - parents, children and older residents. In summary, it was 94% in favour, 5% against, 1% no opinion.

Fete survey analysis (PDF)

Fete survey spreadsheet (PDF)

2024 Facebook Poll

There have been two committee set up for the skatepark. The first was a working party created by the Parish Council whose goal was to come up with questions to ask residents around whether they wanted a skatepark, to put forward in a Parish Poll. The Parish Poll never happened, so the questions were asked in a poll on the Facebook group "Bar Hill Community."

In summary:

1. Do you want a skatepark? - 75% yes, 25% no

2. Do you want to pay for it (at £1/month)? - 35% yes, 65% no

Facebook poll (PDF)

There was some confusion around "putting up to £1/month on the Council Tax for Band D properties" as some residents interpreted that that only Band D properties would pay. It was clarified in the comments that other bands would pay: Band A - 67p, Band B - 78p, Band C - 89p, Band E - £1.22, Band F - £1.44, Band G - £1.67, Band H - £2.00

As well as Saxon Park (the location of the previous skatepark), we also considered the abandoned petrol station, potentially as an indoor park, the main field and, briefly, the tennis courts because the tennis club was looking a bit ropey before pickleball came along. Of these locations we voted on which would be the most suitable and Saxon Park was deemed the most favourable place to put it given that the Parish Council already own the land, it's currently derelict land and having somewhere slightly out of the way works well with our target demographic of teenagers. There are already numerous facilities in the village for primary aged children but very little for teenagers.

In the summer of 2025 the Parish Council put out a public tender application. Five contractors applied to build a skatepark for us. The skatepark task group put in about 15-20 man hours scoring the applications based on criteria laid out in the tender application and the winning big went to Maverick Skateparks. They have been building skateparks for over 20 years and have built over 100 skateparks in that time. They are also the only contractor who did a sewerage survey during the tender process and discovered that it is impossible to build a new concrete skatepark on the site of the old one as there is a sewerage line that runs right underneath it.

We expect the skatepark to cost around £250,000. The price of concrete has gone up quite a lot in recent years which has made skateparks more expensive.

There are funds and grants out there which will make up the majority of the cost, though we will also be doing local fundraising activities. One of the best ways to help us with fundraising is to support the skatepark by subscribing to our Facebook page and YouTube channel.

The general process for getting a skatepark is:

1. Assessing desire for a skatepark

2. Public tender

3. Community consultation

4. Creating a consulted design

5. Planning permission

6. Funding

7. Construction

Follow us on Facebook to be kept up to date with where we're at. The short answer is that we hope to be at the stage of concrete in the ground in the summer of 2027.

There is already drug use and antisocial behaviour in Bar Hill. It's not uncommon to smell cannabis while walking around, and graffiti on the newly painted library is also evidence of existing antisocial behaviour. There is a possibility that a skatepark might centralise that behaviour but the police have already been to one of our meetings and support the skatepark. There is evidence to suggest that if you give young people something constructive to do then it reduces anti-social behaviour. The new skatepark will also be closer to the road than the last one so will be more visible.

Only by skatepark users, in the same way that the playground is only monitored by users. For comparison, Trumpington skatepark has a real community that has formed there. The aim is that the community will monitor itself. However, the existing Skatepark Task Group will, one day, become some sort of management committee so that there is an organised body where people can voice their concerns if things do happen. 

There was a suggestion that the skatepark could have defined opening hours to discourage late night use. The playground doesn't have defined opening hours and we would not expect the skatepark to be any different. However, there is an idea to have lights on a timer to discourage late night use. Lights are part of the remit of the ASG Committee.

A zebra crossing has been suggested for access to the site. We are on the case with a traffic assessment. Highways England were asked about a crossing a number of years ago and declined to put one there, perhaps because it would be a crossing to a derelict piece of land. Once a planning application exists for a skatepark, putting a crossing there is much more compelling!

The Parish Council are cutting down the trees next to the Saxon Park regardless of whether a skatepark is put there. I recommend talking to them about the reasons behind that. Environmental and biodiversity assessments are carried out as part of the planning permission application.

The Accessible Spaces and Gardens Committee (contact ASG committee) are looking in to these sorts of aspects, including lighting. No public toilets are expected to be placed nearby, in the same way there are no public toilets near the playground. However, The Fox pub is nearby which has toilets available.

CCTV has been discussed but nothing has been finalised. Equally, if CCTV is being investigated for the skatepark then an equal concern would be to have CCTV for the playground. For anyone wanting to get involved in what's around the skatepark, rather than the skatepark itself, see Get Involved (YouTube) about the Accessible Spaces and Gardens Committee (ASG Committee).

The Skatepark Task Group will become a management committee who will work with the Parish Council to maintain the skatepark. However, concrete skateparks are not expected to require any money in maintenance for a good long time. The concrete itself comes with a minimum 20 year guarantee.

If there is any vandalism or damage, it would be handled in the same way that vandalism or damage would be handled to any other part of the village.