Legal setback puts Lincoln West Common skate park plans on hold

Plans to build a new Lincoln skate park on land on the West Common have been halted, though a new site may have been found.

As previously reported, the City of Lincoln Council planned to build a skate park on land near the Grandstand on Carholme Road, after positive feedback from a public consultation.

Designs were finalised, but after further investigation by the council’s legal team, it was discovered the Lincoln City Council Act 1985 would make it difficult to build, and costly to work around.

This means at present, the plans for the £200,000 skate park cannot go ahead.

Antony Angus, Team Leader for Recreation Services at the City of Lincoln Council, said in a post on the skate park’s Facebook group: “We have tried to find a way around this, but short of changing the act, which would be expensive, time-consuming and potentially fruitless, we cannot move forward on this site.

“This is a real shame and everyone concerned at the council is very disappointed. Not least myself.”

The original design for the skate park by the West Common. The new site will be more flexible.

New home?

The City of Lincoln Council are not scrapping the idea of a skate park completely though, and have already located a potential spot on the other side of the West Common.

The council are looking at Hobbler’s Hole, off Long Leys Road next to Whitton Park, which was left to the authority by George Whitton as a place for young people to use.

Antony Angus added: “One good thing is the proposed site is less constrained than the West Common, so the design may be tailored to give the users exactly what they want.

“As well as a great skate facility, we want it to be part of a carefully landscaped project with noise mitigation, benches and planting.”

The council are now consulting the public, County Council footpath officers and local residents again, and working with Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust, who manage the neighbouring Newts Hollow site, regarding landscaping.

The new park will be over 100 metres away from housing to avoid any impact on the nearby houses.

Keen skating enthusiasts will also have a say on the new design of the skate park by discussing ideas on the skate park’s Facebook group.

Due to the new site, the new designs can be bigger, with more obstacles for skaters to tackle.

The final ideas will then go through planning, where anyone with concerns can have their say.