The Case of the disappearing Skateboard Park (General Comments)

Name: yummy87

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Product:	General Comments
Date:	17/08/04 (431 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: None

Disadvantages: Incompetence of paid professionals, Wasted money, Distraught kids

We live in a village in the country and although we have the normal cluster of village shops, there is not much in the way of things for older children to amuse themselves with. The youth club closed down about three years ago, as did a Drop In Club, due to lack of volunteers.

In 2001, the Parish Council were approached by several youngsters armed with a petition, asking if they could have some sort of skateboarding facilities in the village. After much discussion it was agreed that this would be a wonderful idea and the wheels were set in motion.

Firstly we asked the youngsters the type of equipment they would like to see in the park. They provided us with some plans and we then approached various companies around the country to ascertain what sort of price range we were looking at. It soon became apparent that the project was going to be extremely expensive so we approached the local district council to see what grants would be available. At the same time we asked the District Council about planning, and whether we would need planning permission for the site. Of course these questions had to be asked to two different departments but you assume they confer don?t you?

We were told that planning permission would not be needed as the structure would not be above a certain height. The next problem was where to site the park. As we had decided to incorporate a skateboard park, basketball court and a kick wall considerable space was needed which narrowed the possible locations a little. We had four sites available to us according to the district and county councils and the police. The first was situated on a housing estate adjacent houses of elderly residents, so that was out of the question before any discussion, the second was on some greensward again slap bang in the middle of another housing estate. It was decided that this would be inappropriate because
of the close proximity of houses. The third was on the recreation ground in the village and this seemed the obvious choice.

However after discussion with the police, it was agreed that this wasn?t viable as the Rec was hidden from the main road, and was quite remote. The police were concerned that drugs could easily be used and passed around without being seen, plus there was the problem that the park would be vandalised and our village suffers enough of that already. The fourth choice was on land adjacent the Village Hall, where there was already a children?s play area.

All parties agreed that this would be feasible, and the wheels were put into motion to site the park at the Vilalge Hall location. Our District Councillors had many meetings with Planning and Environmental Health Officers to discuss the way forward, and at one meeting asked if there was any restriction of regulation on the distance the park had to be sited from the boundary. They were told that none were in force but provided that the park was not on top of the boundary fence, there would be no problems with it being sited on Tower Meadow. The police were happy with the location as it could be seen from the main road and was close to other local amenities.

We then held three public meetings, and apart from one resident complaining about the site of the park, the rest of the residents in the vicinity were in agreement. The resident who complained did live next door to the proposed site, but his garden is enormous, and we were advised to go ahead with the siting of the park as the noise would not be sufficient to cause any problem.

We were advised by Environmental Health that a man made bank should be put against the boundary of the neighbouring property. As soon as the foundations were laid, the bank was created. Envrionmental Health told use that
this would create a sound barrier so the neighbours would not be able to hear much noise from the park.

The whole project cost nearly £40,000, but we did receive a grant for nearly half of this amount. However, this was not paid until the work had been completed and we had to pay for it ourselves first!! Also some of the youths did a bit of fund raising and between them, they raised about £3,000. We also had smaller grants from the county council and the police so it really was a large project that bought people of the village together.

The Park was finished in March 2001, and proved to be popular immediately. It consisted of skateboarding ramps and pipes, basketball court, kick wall and netball facilities. However, as soon as the park was operative, the complaints from the neighbour began. Let me assure you that the park is not right on top of his property before I carry on. The resident has complained bitterly over the years about the Village Hall and also the small childrens play area, which is situated to the front of the Youth Facilities Park. My attitude is why move to a house near to local amenities if all you are going to do is complain? Rather like moving next door to a pub then continually moaning about the music.

The first complaint was about the bank. We moved it. The next complaint was about cars parking in the car park of the village hall, which belonged to people using the facilities. We installed gates at a cost of nearly £1,000 and these then had to be locked when the Village Hall was not in use necessitating many keys to be cut for the keyholders of the various clubs and associations using the hall. He then complained about the noise. The District Council came out and did a noise test, and said that the noise was above the permitted decibel level.

We wrote back and asked what noise was causing
the problem, was it shouting, the equipment, please will you just explain? We received another mail stating that it was the noise of the equipment and it would need to be soundproofed. I duly rang round different firms and obtained quotations for the work, which I sent to the District Council for approval. They then emailed me back, saying that this would not now be appropriate as they had now decided that the noise was airbourne and not coming directly from the equipment.

At this point, the District Council suddenly decided that the park must be at least 30m from the boundary of any neighbouring property. Had they told us before? Had it ever been mentioned? NO. Letters and e-mails then flew backwards and forwards between myself and the Environmental Health Department and we decided to hold a meeting. This was attended by myself, two parish councillors, and three members of the District Council. The meeting reached stalemate. The District Council wanted the park moved to the Recreation Ground. We said no, on the advice of the police authority and the County Council and besides all that, the Rec is run by the Football Club and not by the Parish Council so it was not in our jurisdiction anyway. We also stated that we could not possibly afford to move the Youth Facilities Park and why should we anyway, as the advice we had originally received from the District Council was wrong, as far as we were concerned it was their problem and their mistake.

The District Council then wanted to send out a questionnaire to the whole village asking for their views on moving the park. Despite us not approving the questionnaire it went out, and asked ridiculous questions such as If the park were to be moved, and suitable lighting, security and a teen youth shelter sited, would residents be in
agreement with it? At this point we wrote again to the District Council and asked who was going to fund the lighting, the moving, and the teen shelter, as we had not got any money to fund it. We were greeted with several shrugs of the shoulders and very vague answers.

We were then served with a Statutory Noise Notice and matters had to be bought to a satisfactory conclusion before the end of August 2003.

The football club wrote to the Environmental Health Department and asked for an explanation of why the questionnaire has been sent out, stating that the park could now be moved to the Rec when the football club, who run the Rec, had not even been consulted. They received a reply from Environmental Health stating that they thought the Rec was owned by the Parish Council. A huge lie.

A month or so after the statutory noise notice was served we received a circular from the District Council, which had been sent to all parish councils in the area entitled ?Advice on setting up skateboard/youth facilities?. What a joke. It?s only over a year too late. Just another demonstration of their ineptitude and stupidity. At the end of the Summer holidays the park was removed. We had teenage lads crying, such was their frustration at a hugely popular piece of equipment being dismantled just because someone at the District Council had not done their job correctly.

The local newspapers got hold of the story and the sh*t really hit the fan as the radio stations and television all wanted a piece of the action. A committee was set up to carry out an enquiry into what went wrong. I, along with the chairman and our District Councillors, attended meeting after meeting at which we were interrogated beyond belief. Despite presenting all of the correspondence the result of the enquiry was a joke.
The Parish Council took the brunt of the blame as we knew we would and the officers who had made horrific mistakes at District Level are sitting behind their mahogany desks getting paid a big fat salary while the kids in our village now have nothing again.

I was left to fend off the reporters questions while the enquiry was in progress when all I really wanted to do was give the name of the officer who we felt was ultimately responsible for the whole debacle. In the end I referred the newspapers directly to the Environmental Health Department because I felt that the officer there should carry the can and no one else. I did give a few interviews and had to go on the radio a couple of times where I gave a pretty damning interview and expressed my total incomprehension of the whole affair.

I was STILL receiving letters from the chap who lives next door, the last one received during the enquiry. He scrutinises every single set of Minutes I type as these are readily available in the Library, and complains about anything and everything that the Parish Council do or do not discuss at our meetings. In his last missive he stated that I had been deliberately vague about the matter, when I recently included a piece in our local magazine, and also that he was told by a councillor to move. This is not the case, but believe me, I could have told him to do a lot worse than that during this whole fiasco. The most amusing thing about this man is his inability to look at or acknowledge me when he sees me in public, he seems only to have the ability to communicate with me via letter.

I would advise any village, town or city to be very careful if they intend to install equipment like this for the kids. Regulations and rules are very hazy in a lot of areas and if you just have ONE complaint, you could be left
in the same situation that we have. If you, or anyone you know is wanting to provide this sort of facility for the kids in their village or town, I have every piece of information you could ever need on the subject so drop me a line. However, it all reached us far too late.

I just feel so sorry for the kids in the village. They now have no equipment to skateboard or BMX on, instead it?s all in bits waiting for another suitable site to be found and has been for over a year. We are still hoping to buy some land to the rear of the village hall on which to site the park and the District Council have agreed to pay half the money to re-site the facility. I suppose it?s an admission of their guilt but the way in which the whole matter has been handled stinks to high heaven. The most frightening thing is that all officers involved are paid and are supposed to be knowledgeable in these matters. Parish councilors aren?t paid and they took the advice of the professionals. What a joke that turned out to be.

Capital letters courtesy of: http://www.chuckleweb.co.uk/fixit.php

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