Skatepark planned for Beau Sejour
Tuesday 14th April 2009, 2:30PM BST.
Phil Guille, 18, and Stephen Edmonds, 25, show their BMX skills. (Picture by Adrian Miller, 0756283)
A SKATEPARK will be built at Beau Sejour if permission is granted.
Plans for the redevelopment of the child’s playground area behind the leisure centre, which include details of a concrete, below-ground-level skatepark and modernised playground facilities, have been submitted to the Environment Department.
Culture and Leisure minister Mike O’Hara said it should cost about £400,000.
‘We hope the bulk of that will be generated through the community and one or two people have expressed interest in helping us already,’ he said.
‘We are not going to pay for it entirely with taxpayers’ money.’
He said that after a long battle and numerous challenges, he believed islanders were closer than ever before to getting the permanent facilities they had dreamed of.
Skaters and BMX riders expressed their excitement yesterday at what they said looked like a top-of-the-range facility in an ideal location.
Deputy O’Hara was delighted that the island was so close to achieving what so many have hoped for.
‘I am absolutely thrilled we have got this far. It has taken a long, long time and a huge amount of support from many people.’
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Why not make the people that will use it pay an annual/Monthly fee that will cover costs of upkeep etc.
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You have to pay to use the pool, why not the skate park?
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I thought there was a skate park built some years ago inside the walled in area at Beau Sejour, if that was the case what happened to it.
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Agreed.
If I play football/softball then why should I pay to use a facility at Beau Sejour & they get it for free?
Mind you – I guess it would save the Liberation Monument getting trashed by skateboarding chavs every day…
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where does it say in this article that the use of the park will be free?
I sometimes wonder whether posters on this website live in a parallel universe whether the news stories are similar, but ever so slightly different.
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TL: My post was in response to the fact I, as a tax payer dont want to pay for a facility I will never use. I have to pay to participate in the Sports I enjoy, so why should they get it free?
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TL: “where does it say in this article that the use of the park will be free?”
Where does it say it will cost?
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WHBonney, “Mind you – I guess it would save the Liberation Monument getting trashed by skateboarding chavs every day…”
Don’t be such an ignorant fool. Skateboarding chavs? Is there such a thing? I’ll think you will find that 99.9% of chavs play football over going skateboarding. Skateboarders have been using the Liberation monument for years, all the damage they have caused is a little wax on the ledge which is pressure washed off every Liberation Day. The monument need to be washed every Lib Day due to Town workers on lunch, leaving litter and footprints on the monumnet which then makes it dirty and look the nasty colour it does the majority of the year. The damage to tiles has been done by drunken vandals. Skateboarders don’t want to ruin the monument, they want it to be in perfect, smooth condition. You can’t skate a monument with a hole in or tile missing.
Next time do your research before you start throwing the “chav” card around.
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Never have I read such selfishness from locals. Why the focus on payments!?!
Why should the skate park not be free? Had any of you bothered to discuss this with Mike O’Hara during his presentation at BSJ the other week you could have posed these money related questions to him. He did go on to show at this presentation that there will be a new FREE park area with excellent equipment for children to play on and for adults to exercise with. You won’t have to pay to use this new area either.
Just think about it.
Do you take your children to the play park in Sausmarez Park?, do you use the cycle ways?, do you use the play fields at BSJ with your children or go for a run on them? DO YOU PAY?? NO !!!!
This skate park will do alot for the youth community as the play parks do for the infant and young children.
Lets stop this selfishness and think about the community as a whole.
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well said Andrew
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Andrew, the issue of cost is prevalent as +99% of the island will not benefit from this skate park. Everyone was a child at some point and more than likely used a park. Not everyone skates.
So, as you say, lets think of the community as a whole. So, should I propose the states spend £400,000 on building a new toy for an exceedingly small small minority too, and claim for everyone else but myself to be selfish but myself?
You havn’t a clue.
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dude you don’t make sense. maybe read back your posts before posting them!
The states aren’t shelling out £400,000 for the park. It will be private investors and sponsors mainly.
Once again, Josh, do your research. Or just find something better to do than coming on here and being awkward about EVERYTHING!
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Lime – Thank you for your sour response to my above comment…
I would like to point out that I walk past that liberation monument every afternoon between 4-5.30pm….
The litter is mainly left by the louts that hang out there drinking cans of lager & shouting at passers by… I have also had to step out of the way of a skateboard after a clown tried a trick & fell off, thrusting his skateboard off the steps & into the path of passers by – if it happens again they will have to retrieve the skateboard from the Careening Herd…
I stand by my comments above – the louts that skateboard & ruin our monument are an embarrassment to the island as they are the first thing the visitors see when leaving a cruise ship!!
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Ok thats fair enough…They are an embarrassment to the large group of skaters that show respect, pick up their litter and don’t skateboard at the monument during peak times such as 4-6.30pm. Its the same little scallys that ruin our spots such as the bowl and the old B&Q facility also. Littering, hanging around after hours, drinking, spitting on the floor and just generally being a nuisance. They have nothing to do with the dedicated group of adults and kids alike that are pushing for the skatepark. Next time you see that group, say something to them, or call the police.
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also if we did have a park that was worth going to, unlike the recycled baked bean tin ramps at Delancey then those pain in the neck kids would most probably be down there out of the way.
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What do that age group have to do?
In my day we went to youth clubs…..what was the old BMX tracks at Beau Sejour and Portenfir.
Give them something to do….get them involved with building it and running it and theyll respect it.
Youth culture is NOT always an embarrassment its just not understood.
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So it’s ok for the States give away millions of pounds of revenue bailing out the finance industry but to ask for a relatively small amount of money to build a skatepark for the benefit of Guernseys youngsters is obviously considered unreasonable by some of the postings on this site?
Maybe if the younger people were given a proper facility they could call their own there would be a few less problems with vandalism and anti-social behaviour.
By the way I don’t skate or ride a BMX, I’m over 40 but I still remember being young once!
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You nust be joking!!!,has anyone seen the problems caused by the skateboard park in Jersey:under age drinking,vandalism,anti-social behaviour to name a few,Mike o’ Hara should contact his Jersey counterparts and find out first hand the scale of the problems attached to this ludicrous scheme, and £400,000 worth of taxpayers money at a time when this island is so much in the mire!!Get real and say NO!!!
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Lime, you obviously seem to care a great deal about having a skate facility which is a good thing. It is something that the island should have (but not sure how it would cost £400k). But don’t you think there is something a little wrong in saying you want a monument to be smooth in order to skate on it??
Using the Lib monument as an example, why would you skate on a structure that has been put up to honour a significant part of history? I personally don’t like the Lib monument but I would say that skating on it (or any other structure created for some kind of remembrance) is massively disrespectful and immature.
I agree with Bonney on the Lib monument in that those skating there are causing a nuisance and the police should show their hand. I too will be testing the flotation capability of any skateboard that comes my way on the odd occasion that I walk past.
Lime, show you care with some pro-skatepark feedback rather than just biting peoples heads off. You will be taken more seriously and earn more support this way.
PS Agreed – chavball rather than chavboarding.
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Has no-one been reading these posts? it’s the same argument about the money. The money will not JUST be spent on the skate park, but also a up-to-date childrens play area (I’m guessing both parts are being updated).
Also, I’m pretty sure that if the states asked some of the skaters for some help, they’d happily give up there time – free of charge- to help build the facility (saving more money) also Turx helped build the lib day event last year, why not see if they’d be willing to help again!?
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I’m gonna have to side with the skaters and Lime on this one
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