Whitchurch skate park grant bid hits the skids
A nine-year project to bring a £70,000 skate park to Whitchurch has been hit by a fresh delay.
One of the major grants needed to pay for the skate park close to Jubilee Park has been refused. It is expected to put the project back by several months.
But those behind the scheme today insisted it was not "dead in the water".
Earlier this year Stephen Platt, town clerk, said if all went to plan they hoped to start building the skate park in June next year ready to open it to the public at the end of August.
About £16,000 of the cost of the skate park is to be met by a fund set aside by members of the Next Generation Youth group, which has wanted to develop a skate park on the site nine years ago.
Councillor Terry O'Neill, of Whitchurch Town Council, said: "It is with regret that Whitchurch Skate Park has unfortunately stumbled due to outside factors.
"There are still avenues open to us which we will investigate.
"We have not got the full grant listing yet for the project.
"Recently, one of the major grants we put in for did not get through.
"However, the project is not dead in the water. We will now have to explore other avenues so it will be a longer process.
"We are fully supportive of having a skate park and do not want to scupper it.
"The delay is now down to finances but we are very much active in order to keep it alive.
"Unless it gets to the point where we have exhausted all avenues we will keep going.
"This will have put us back a few months as it takes a long time to find a window to apply for the grant and then secure it.
"The whole process is lengthy."
The idea of providing a skate park for youngsters in the town has rumbled on for several years, but has always hit problems.
Previous plans for a skate park on Jubilee Park and at Sir John Talbot's Technology College foundered, leaving youngsters disappointed and disillusions about the scheme ever happening.
Meanwhile members of Market Drayton Town Council are currently bidding for £75,000 for a new skate park in the town.
The current Market Drayton skate park, which is close to the swimming pool, will either be closed and replaced with a larger open plan site or extended as part of the development.
