A local authority is hoping that it will soon be jumping for joy after submitting a bid to get the remaining funds for a much-wanted youth facility.
The overall budget for Pegswood Parish Council’s skate park project is just over £115,000 and an application for a £45,540 grant was recently sent to SITA Trust. A decision will be made between now and March.
The L-shape design includes a double bowl in the bigger arm and a corner featuring a hubba ledge, step up and two flat banks with a hip.
It also contains a smaller arm – which will have a stair set, half-penny and gap kicker – and a number of rollovers.
The other funds for the scheme are as follows: £51,970 from council reserves plus a further £4,700 to be earmarked for potential ‘seed’ money, £10,000 from county councillor Alan Sambrook’s small grants fund and £7,500 from Coun David Woodard’s small grants underspend.
Paul Williams, chairman of Pegswood Parish Council’s environment working group, said: “We looked into coming up with something that is both possible and practical and meets the needs of young people and we believe the skate park that has been designed will achieve this goal.
“I haven’t heard anybody say this is a bad thing and many people in the village will be hoping that the funding application will be successful. If it is, the intention is to have the facility ready for the 2015 summer holidays.”
Just under 450 pupils at Bothal Middle School took part in a survey about the skate park and of the 75 per cent of this number who live in Pegswood or Ashington, half said they would use it at least weekly and half said they would use it monthly.
Coun Williams added that some of the children said they currently travel as far as Newcastle and Gateshead to use a skate park.