Sedgemoor District Council has defended its decision to temporarily close the skate park at Highbridge’s Apex Park during the school holidays for a £73,000 overhaul.
Work began earlier this month on the new-look park, which is set to re-open at the beginning of August.
The council says the existing skate park equipment, which was originally installed in 2002, has reached the end of its useful life and is in need of replacement.
But while the overhaul has been welcomed by skate park users, several are unhappy that the work is going ahead during the holidays when many youngsters want to use the facilties.
“It does seem very strange timing to go ahead now when the work could have been doing in the spring well away from the holiday period to avoid disruption,” said one user, Mike, who contacted Burnham-on-Sea.com.
Council spokesman Sam Taylor told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “I agree it’s not ideal timing, but we hope to have the new-look park open in early August so it will be available for the vast majority of the school holidays.”
“This project is part of a massive repair programme that relies on our staff and contractors being available to do the work – we have been restricted by availability.”
Apex Skate Park closed to users on Monday 7th July to allow the work to start and, subject to weather conditions, the upgraded skate park is scheduled to re-open on Friday 1st August.
This period of time will allow Sedgemoor’s contractors to remove the existing ramps, repair the tarmac surface and get the new ramps installed.
£72,994 will be spent on the upgrade, with £58,395.20 of this funding coming from RLT3 developer funds for outdoor sport. Sedgemoor District Council will be providing the additional funding required.
The work includes a new Half Pipe, Quarter Pipe, Planter, Wedge Flats, Bank Ramps and Pyramid Corner Ramp. Jupiter Play will be delivering the project using fastener free ramps which provide a smooth riding experience and require little on-going maintenance and have a long life expectancy. The floodlighting for this area has been reinstated this week.
