2nd June 2017

MEDIA RELEASE

City Council receives funding for skate park improvements

A pump track, pyramid ramp and pole jam are a step closer for Palmerston North skateboarders, thanks to a grant from the Eastern and Central Community Trust (ECCT).

Palmerston North City Council will put the $150,000 towards completing the plan prepared by Rich Landscape for the skate park on the Railway Land Reserve in Church Street. The plan includes the recently completed $180,000 Council-funded skate bowl.

Skate park users Craig Mclay, Dylan Bell and Keanu Ross (13), along with Councillor Leonie Hapeta and Leisure Assets Planner Jason Pilkington made a presentation in support of the Council’s application to ECCT.

“The team emphasised the growing importance of more informal sports such as skating, with its focus on mentoring, equitable participation and etiquette over rules and hierarchies,” Mr Pilkington says.

They also spoke about how skate parks are popular with 18 to 30-year-old males who are at risk of becoming more sedentary as they often give up organised sport after leaving school.

“We were impressed with the passion and enthusiasm shown by the young presenters,” says ECCT General Manager Jonathan Bell, “and the project fits with ECCT’s aims of helping build stronger, more sustainable communities. We’re looking forward to seeing it being used by a range of people of all ages and abilities.”

The ECCT grant will help fund additional features including a pump track (also called a snake run), a pyramid ramp, pole jam, more banks and slabs, and an advanced street leg obstacle. The brickwork will be refurbished, with more signs added and seating installed made from railway sleepers reflecting the park’s history as a railway station.

The Council needs another $100,000 for the work, which it is seeking from external funders.

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