PETERSFIELD town councillors have defended their attempts to provide the town with new skateboarding facilities. And they have demanded answers from their council officers as to why the scheme has hit delays. The current ramp at Love Lane was fenced off by council officers last year after engineers claimed it had become unsafe. Since then, councillors have come under fire from skateboarders and police sergeant Rhona Anderson, who accused them of "dragging their feet" over the project. But at a meeting of the town council's grounds committee last week, councillor Bob Ayer questioned officers' role in taking the project forward. He said a plan for the scheme had been resolved in October, but he felt councillors had not been kept informed of developments. "The council put up with an enormous amount of flak for the perception that we have been dragging our heels with this and I find that hard to accept when we made a resolution on October 3," he said. Contracts manager Peter Jones said they had tried to follow the resolution and had received responses from specialist skateboard ramp manufacturers. But some of the companies, he said, had not been willing to meet the skateboarders. He said: "The public perception has gone up somewhat since it has become better publicised. We have tried to get a higher profile." During the meeting at the Festival Hall last Thursday, five skateboarders outlined their wishes. They informed members that their preference was for a ramp made out of concrete, as its surface was hardwearing. Councillors told them their suggestions were not falling on deaf ears, and Brian Dutton pointed to his experience as a fitness instructor to reassure skateboarders he had their best interests at heart. He said: "I would like to scotch the misconception that people around this table are not interested in skateboarding. We are not dragging our feet, but we do see the problems of vandalism. "That ramp five or six years ago was described to me as the best in the south of England. Therefore that is what we are trying to do for you again. "Don't get the misconception that we don't know what you want. Your interests are my interests. "But you have got to look after it and police it yourselves." Councillors agreed to the formation of a new working party, which would include skateboarders, in an attempt to move the project forward. l During the meeting it was also revealed that fencing surrounding the troubled skatepark was costing the council £30 a week. Damage to the halfpipe feature, members were advised by contracts manager Peter Jones, had already cost £300 and bills were beginning to mount up. Mr Jones called for the ramp to be pulled down altogether to prevent spiralling costs and for health and safety reasons. He said: "The ramp has deteriorated still further. The cost is in the region of £300, with more to follow. "I would like to repair that ramp but I do not have the budget." He was supported by skateboarders, who told the meeting it would be better to demolish the structure altogether But Mr Ayer maintained that pulling the ramp down would create a negative perception of the council among the public. He said: "The council has made it quite clear that we don't want it removed."
