New skate park for Exeter will be ready by Christmas

Work has begun on a new skate park for Exeter.

Diggers moved on to the site at Arena Park today and the new facility is expected to be ready by Christmas.

Temporary equipment installed last November has now been removed ready for the work to begin and the site secured and fenced off to the public.

The design of the park has been chosen by a group of local pro skaters working to a design brief heavily influenced by the local skating community.

Exeter City Council recently appointed Maverick Industries to build the skate park. Designs show a range of features popular with skaters including ramps, quarterpipes, flatbanks, ledges and rails. The plaza style design will also feature a viewing/seating area overlooking all the action.

The old skate park had to be broken up last year after it came to the end of its usable life. It had proved immensely popular over the last ten years but had fallen into disrepair and was unsafe to use.

Cllr David Harvey, Lead Councillor for Place, said the City Council had consulted with the skater community right from the start to find out what equipment they required.

“In the end we had more than 300 people taking part in a consultation exercise to contribute ideas for the designs of the new facility,” he added.

Work is expected to take around 14 weeks to complete. In the meantime, other skate parks will be available to use at Flowerpot Playing Fields, Heavitree Pleasure Ground, Station Road Playing Field in Pinhoe and Topsham Recreation Ground.