Final Report

The park is roughly split into two halves. One half has large (6-8ft) ramps designed for BMXs and more experienced skateboarders. The other half has much smaller (1-3ft) ramps designed for beginner skateboarders.

Indoor/outdoor

An idea was proposed to make the skatepark an indoor facility. The nearest indoor skatepark to Cambridge is approximately an hour’s drive away, making Bar Hill an ideal place to host a new indoor skatepark.

However, doing so would be a business proposition owned by a few people and not a community facility. It would require a dedicated team of people to establish it as a business and it has an entirely different feel to it than an outdoor park. Funding would be from angel investors or business loans from banks rather than the Parish Council, and no permission would need to be sought from the community. The community, in fact, would have no say in it at all.

As a group, we decided this is not what we were after and therefore chose to pursue an outdoor skatepark that would be free to use by the community rather than an indoor skatepark business.

Locations

We considered three locations:

• The abandoned petrol station where the old Burger King used to be

• The main field over by the scout hut

• Saxon Park, the location of the previous skatepark

The abandoned petrol station

We surveyed the area with a drone and drew up some rough plans for a skatepark in that area. Simon Hetherington, from the A14 team, said that until access to the site is sorted then nobody will be allowed to develop the land. There would also be health and safety concerns given the site’s history as a petrol station.

The Parish Council also does not own that land and, therefore would need to purchase it. Regarding price, Simon said:

“Under The Treasury Rules, any transfer between public sector bodies needs to be at market value, the value can be agreed between the parties or determined by an independent expert appointed by the parties both methods require the preparation of a valuation in accordance with the RICS Red Book.”

This would, therefore, most likely make the petrol station site prohibitively expensive.

The main field

While the main field was considered, after the area required was measured it was deemed unsuitable as a skatepark positioned there would become a too dominant feature on the landscape.

Saxon Park

The site of the old skatepark, opposite The Fox pub, is an area of land already owned by the Parish Council. It already has a concrete foundation on the site, which is a good size for a skatepark and is far enough away from residences that any noise pollution would not be noticed. It also used to have a very successful skatepark which some in the village still have fond memories of.

For these reasons, it was deemed that Saxon Park would be the location to propose the new skatepark.

Costs

We contacted several skatepark construction contractors and also spoke to Stuart Maclure from Betong Park, a construction contractor who specialises in skatepark design and construction. We showed him our design with detailed measurements of the various elements, and he estimated the cost of the park to be £250,000.

The main way to raise this kind of capital would be from the Parish Council taking out a Public Works Loan Board. This is essentially a mortgage taken out by a Parish Council which has a fixed rate for the entire term of the loan. Rates for a PWLB change on a daily basis but on 21st March 2023 the interest rate for a 25-year fixed loan paid back as an annuity was 4.66%.

There are 1490 band D equivalent properties in Bar Hill, which, at a rate of 4.66% over 25 years, would equate to 95p per month per household for an initial loan of £250,000.

Maintenance

The PWLB figure above does not account for maintenance, insurance, etc. However, as already mentioned, the maintenance cost of concrete skateparks is significantly lower than skatelite parks. A figure of £500 per year may be reasonable.

Maintenance would mean the figure would be more than the 95p per month proposed above, however…

Funding

The PWLB figure above does not account for any funding but assumes the Parish Council will pay for the entire build. There are many sources of funding available for projects exactly like this from places including the National Lottery, Comic Relief Local, Tesco Bags of Help, Landfill Communities Fund and Sports England. Local funding may also be available from our very own Tesco or Section 106 money received from local developers. We can also do local fundraising and have already agreed to create a fundraising group should this project go ahead.

All funds raised would mean the initial loan would be less than £250,000. This would mean that the figure would be less than the 95p per month proposed above.

Overall we would expect the maintenance costs and fundraising to approximately cancel each other out, making the final cost to residents approximately £1 per month for the next 25 years, or to look at it another way, this would be a total of £300 per resident paid over the next 25 years.

NOTE: This web page is based on the document "as presented" but has been tidied up here for readability. The original report is available from either the Parish Council directly or by clicking here (from the Internet Archive).