SKATEBOARDING facilities in Petersfield are an "embarrassing shambles" and must either be bulldozed or seriously upgraded, town councillors have been warned. The stark reality was that if the Love Lane facilities were demolished the young people would move into the town centre where they could make trouble: if they were upgraded the cost could be as much as £100,000. The bombshell was dropped by Petersfield police sergeant Rhona Anderson at a meeting of the town council's Love Lane Sports Ground vandalism working party. She told working party chairman Chris Jenner and chairman of the council's finance committee Bob Ayer: "The bottom line for you is that we have a facility which is a shambles and is dangerous, and could give rise to litigation for the town council. "We are at the stage where the town council has two options - either bulldoze it, alienate the young people, who will divert to the town centre and possibly get up to mischief; or fund the upgrade of the facility." She said the current skateboarding equipment was in disrepair. There was a hole in part of it, metal parts had "jagged up" and the surfaces were no longer fall-friendly. "This is not an appropriate facility any longer," Sgt Anderson told the meeting. "I just think it's an embarrassment to the town council and to Petersfield. It was once state-of-the-art equipment. We need to put money into this venture and upgrade it into a viable facility." She added: "I believe the town council is about listening to what residents want, and we are not just a town full of older people." Sgt Anderson told councillors she was now receiving complaints from motorists using the town's central car park. "I have got an influx of skateboarders going there instead of using your facility because your facility is so awful." She said skateboarders were posing a danger in the car park and one had recently been run over. "Young people are being displaced into the town centre and committing minor crime," she added. Sgt Anderson said she had not received any of the complaints town councillors said they had had about skatepark facilities at Love Lane "In the six years I have been here I have yet to receive a complaint about the skate park. We did have one six years ago but there have been none to me since," she said. She told councillors she appreciated the project would entail a "huge amount" of money, but she said she would approach the community safety team to see if any help was forthcoming. Sgt Anderson also pleaded for a small group of committed youngsters to come forward to help design the facility they want and to investigate sources of funding. The meeting heard that the project would not need all the funding at once as there were stand-alone parts that could be provided. Councillors were also told that equipment could be installed that was suitable for use not only by skateboarders, but also by rollerbladers and BMX riders. Mr Ayer said he believed there was very little the council could contribute financially, but Mr Jenner asked if councillors could investigate the possibility of setting aside £20,000 a year for the next four or five years . "I am not prepared to give you an answer here, may I remind you that we have just put the precept up by 35 per cent. This is not the right time or place to ask me that question," Mr Ayer replied. But he conceded: "In theory we could earmark money as we did for the sound equipment (in the Festival Hall). In the end we could replace that equipment. You might be talking £20,000 every year for three years." He said £20,000 was already earmarked through developers' contributions, which was immediately available. Sgt Anderson told councillors she believed the money was enough to get the project off the ground. She said she would contact "genuinely knowledgeable" experts who would help to plan the facilities stage by stage. "Let's crack the whip and go for this," she urged councillors.