Bar Hill Skatepark

Welcome to the first update from the Working Party regarding a new Skatepark!

We met for the first time on the 22nd March and myself and Anthony were joined by 12 residents! Dave Wright agreed to take the Chair, with Anthony Mitchell as Vice Chair, and myself (Andy Pellew) as secretary.

The second meeting was held on the 12th of April (to coincide with the publishing of the Bar Hill News).

The aims of the working party were agreed

• Provide the village with options for a Skatepark in the form of a Parish Poll - as was the timeframe (six months). It was agreed that each of the options would have the location, the initial cost, as well as the ongoing costs.

Regarding sites in the village, discussions centred around the old site and, potentially, the derelict petrol station site adjacent to the A14. The village green was ruled out as being totally unsuitable.

Regarding the skatepark itself, two options are being considered; indoor and outdoor.

The advantage of indoor is that the space is much more controlled and charges to access the park can then be used to pay for maintenance. The site could also host other businesses. There is shortage of indoor skateparks in the Cambridge area (in fact if you look at a UK map Cambridge is an island without one).

The advantage of outdoor is that it will be open all year round to anyone who wants to use it. This will be more like the old park that was replaced.

It was provisionally agreed to use the name "Saxon Park" to refer to the site, however the preference of members of the working party would be to have the school name it - maybe as a competition?!

However the school was closed for Easter and so that idea needs to wait until the next meeting (which is unfortunately after this magazine is published).

We have reached out to companies that design/ construct skateparks for their advice, as well as to Northstowe Town Council to see what they are planning with the new development there.

We have also reached out to people who used to use the skatepark for their thoughts on what we should be considering when we start working on designs.

If you'd like to see the old skatepark in action then here's a video; https://youtu.be/p3uyDhqFEY

This is a competition from 2012.

Future meetings will be held on the second Tuesday of the month at 6:30pm in the Sports and Social Club. The next meeting is on 10th May.

If you can help we'd love to see you there!!

Welcome to this month's update!

We met on the 10th May in the bar area of the Sports and Social Club and there were lots of topics for discussion.

Fundraising is something the team is very keen to work on, and we have begun talking to Funded Team who manage a list of open grants across the UK who might be able to help us fund the new park.

Unfortunately in order to really engage with people offering grants we need to put together designs and costings - something that is being worked on as we speak!

A sub-group is meeting at the site of the old Skatepark at the end of the month to put together some outline designs so we can then approach construction companies for approximate costings.

We also discussed possibly building the base in Year 1 with a few ramps and then adding to it in future years.

The working party has decided to attend the Village

Fete this year to meet and discuss with local residents what the plans are, and how

they are going to be delivered. We look forward to seeing you there!

Our next meeting is on Tuesday 14th June in the Social Club, to tide you over until then here's a video of the old skatepark from in 2013; www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ag4iHeDmN.JU

This month we will be at the Village Fête & Festival on the 2nd of July with our own stall to talk to people about what we'll be proposing to the village.

We have spoken in meetings about a number of designs, material options, etc. and the plans for the proposal are now coming together. It was our intention to have something ready for a Parish Poll this year.

If you'd like to join us then we will be in the Sports and Social Club from 6:30 on the second Tuesday of every month

This month's update is a more than a little rushed - we had the School and Village Fétes where we met people and discussed our current plans for the village.

The results will be published next month but I'm sure I won't be spoiling anything when I say that there was very broad support from those attending for the development of a park and some very useful points were raised on who the park would be best aimed at.

Dave Wright and Anthony Mitchell (our Chair and Vice Chair at the School Fête);

In other news this month work on planning for the skatepark and talking to contractors continued. Over the next couple of months we'll begin talking to contractors to get some accurate prices

More updates will follow!

No update this month as we're not meeting (August is a difficult month as so many people are away/ have childcare issues).

Work will continue next month!

Lots of news this month!

We have had a productive summer break and have now agreed the design that we will be using to reach out to skatepark construction companies to start getting together some idea of the cost involved.

On the right are a few 3D models we put together showing the proposed new layout (with a few cartoon figures for size).

The proposed location for the new park will be on the same site as the old park (Saxon Park).

This design is intended to both allow beginners an "on-ramp" to learn and start developing their skating skills as well as allow those with more experience a place to go to enhance and extend their existing skills.

At our last meeting (6th September) we agreed an outline question that we will suggest to the Parish Council as the one that should be used for the Parish Poll. We need some more details (around the finances) before we publish it but hopefully by next month.

More details on the Parish Poll will be made available in future issues of the Bar Hill News.

If you'd like to join us for our next meeting it will be at 18:30 in the Fox on Tuesday, 11th October when we expect (fingers crossed!) to be looking at some responses from construction companies which might, for the first time, include actual figures!

We look forward to seeing you there!

Nearly there!

Our last meeting, held on the 11th October, was centred around getting updates regarding contractors and also the proposed Parish Poll (pending approval by the Parish Council).

We are still committed to offering a Skatepark for the village with a maximum cost of around €l/ month (for a Band C property).

As I'm sure any of you who are trying to tie down builders can imagine we are now running into problems related to availability of contractors to provide quotes. We have a finished design, and we're hopeful that by the next meeting we have ballpark figures from contractors that we can start looking at.

If you'd like to come along to our next meeting it will be on Tuesday 8th November in the Fox at 18:15.

Last month there was an article about the skatepark that read, "We are still committed to offering a skatepark for the village with a maximum cost of around €1/ month." It appears that this statement has raised some concerns amongst residents and so we, the Bar Hill Skatepark Working Party, would like to apologise for any confusion and would like to clarify the situation. We would also like to note that the statement came from the Working Party and not from the Parish Council.

Firstly, to put minds at rest, we continue to explore our options and no decision has been made. The key word is "offering". As a working party we have been discussing various options for a skatepark with updates and invitations to join us published each month in the Bar Hill News. Discussions have included indoor/ outdoor options, potential locations, suitability for scooters, skateboards and BMXs, intended target audience, building materials, designs and so on.

Once all factors have been taken into account, the aim is that we come up with a concrete suggestion for what to offer the village. The village would then vote one way or another whether it is something they would like to happen. At the summer fete we managed to talk to 118 people. 97% were in favour.

Regarding the cost, while there is funding available from charitable organisations, it would not cover the whole cost of a skatepark. Consequently, if residents voted in favour and the Parish Council approved it. then there would need to be additional funding. As a working party we decided that any amount greater than f1 per household per month would be automatically deemed unacceptable, hence the statement of a maximum cost of £1/ month.

We hope this helps clarify the situation. If you'd like to see more about the old skatepark please watch https://www.voutube.com/watch?y=_LaOendOWsE.

Our next meeting will be at the Fox on Tuesday 6th December at 6:15pm, all are welcome.

Bar Hill Skatepark Working Party

The final article in the Bar Hill News was published by the Skatepark Working Party. A summary of the Final Skatepark Report (with a link to the final report).

You can find the Final Skatepark Report on this section of the site, the version which appeared in the Bar Hill News is heavily edited in order to fit.

The full issue of the Bar Hill News exists in the Village Archive (May 2023).