Question

CEF 05 2025 Skate Park

A constituent has enquired when AIG will be returning the skate park in Georgetown to its original condition? This was dismantled during runway works however it has been left to ruin since. Can AIG provide any information on the plans for this site?

Thank you for your enquiry.

At this time reinstating the skate park for is not on our work programme, mainly because it is not as straightforward as it might appear.

We do however plan to tidy the area up generally and this will be programmed in over the coming weeks.

The challenges with reopening the skate park are:

Cost and Resources
Although the equipment was stored, some of it is now 17 years old and would need to be replaced.

This (plus the Health & Safety points mentioned below) means we cannot simply reopen the skate park as it would need a further investment of AIG Capital funds to update the site and replace equipment.

Also, in terms of maintenance, we are already supporting a number of other leisure facilities in and around the Georgetown area, such as the new MUGA and the play area.

In addition a considerable resource has been committed to supporting the football programme – for example late last year extensive pitch preparation work took place, further work was requested/completed last month and we have now been asked to support the programme by cutting back vegetation in the area.

None of these areas has a defined separate budget or resource to do this maintenance work, so to add the skate park back on to the list would increase the strain on resources and finances.

Impact on adjacent residents
It is understood that when the skate park was open, although use was decline, adjacent residents did express their concerns about noise levels. Should it reopen, this would likely be an issue again.

Health & Safety
It is likely that if the skate park was reinstated, investment would be needed for additional Health & Safety measures.

The ramps etc used were in some case quite large (see picture below) and it was apparently commonplace for people to use the facility without safety equipment like helmets.

Way Forward
In view of the complications in this matter, we will seek the views of the next meeting of the Public Works Committee to assess the potential appetite for further capital investment to make the return of the skate park possible

We hope this answer helps.

Councillor Laura Shearer

Submitted: 20 March 2025

Response: 16 April 2025