Setback unites skatepark protests

8:10am Saturday 12th April 2008

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Controversial plans to build a skatepark in Cowley Marsh Park have been put off yet again over fears it has become a "party political issue".

And for the first time, campaigners both for and against the proposal are in agreement - it's time for Oxford City Council to decide one way or the other.

The decision was due to be made by the council's strategic development control committee on Friday, April 25, following a recommendation by the Cowley area committee to refuse it.

But following legal advice, the council decided to put it off until after the local elections on Thursday, May 1, and will not now discuss it until Wednesday, May 28.

Jack Richens, 28, executive officer for Oxford Wheels Project, which is behind the scheme, said: "The reason they are giving is that it has become a party political issue and can't be dealt with fairly in the run-up to the election.

"It's another delay and the whole decision on the skatepark has been delay after delay.

"We've been trying to do this for 10 years now and we really need to know what they decide so we can move ahead, whatever the decision may be."

Meanwhile, Julia Keddle, who lives in nearby Crescent Road and has objected to the plans, said: "It's time for them to make a decision.

"It annoys me that the decision is never final and we are forced to put our point across again and again.

"It's extremely annoying that we think we have put the thing to bed and then it comes up again."

Oxford Wheels Project has been running a skatepark in Meadow Lane for 10 years.

But as the site is on a floodplain, the ramps were only temporary and are now coming to the end of their life.

Skateboarders and BMX riders said they would have nowhere to go once the skatepark closed.

Opponents of the plan said Cowley Marsh Park was the wrong location, would be noisy, would add to traffic and parking problems and would mean a loss of green space.

A total of 120 letters were received in support of the proposal and 28 opposed it. More than 40 people turned out on Wednesday, April 2, to hear Cowley area committee's recommendation.

At one point two opposing petitions were circulating in Cowley Marsh and both sides have questioned the statistics used by the others.

A spokesman for the city council said: "The Cowley Marsh skatepark application has attracted a great deal of support and opposition locally.

"The local planning authority does not wish the application to become a party political or election issue and consequently we consider it appropriate to defer the decision until after the local elections on May 1."