The Parish Council dismissed sites at the Arc leisure facility, Villa Park, Heritage High School, Barlborough Country Park and Linear Park without a public consultation, which left only Clune Street recreational ground.
The online community consultation questionnaire revealed that 68% of respondents supported the building of the skatepark on Clune Street recreational ground, and it was unanimously passed by all those councillors that attended the recent Parish Council meeting.
Residents felt the questionnaire was flawed since no measures were put in place to prevent an individual from completing the form more than once. It also highlighted that 10% of the voters were non-taxpayers between the ages of 12-17 and 14% lived outside the district of Bolsover.
The Parish Council delivered paper questionnaires to houses overlooking the Clune Street site. However, the bungalows behind these houses, which house the elderly, were not given the chance to vote due to the questionnaire being online. The bungalows on Ashlea Walk are on a direct route from Clune Street to the only nearby shop, so residents would be directly impacted by the increased footfall from the skatepark.
Eric Storr, Trustee of Wildlife in Need, Hickinwood Lane, Clowne said: “The views of older taxpaying residents in the East of Clowne and animal businesses on Hickinwood Lane were trivialised compared to the views of non-taxpaying young people.
“For over 45-years our charity has promoted wildlife on the Lane, only for our hard work to be ruined by the pending Clowne Garden Village development opposite and now the skatepark is the last straw.
“Wild animals such as hedgehogs and badgers will end up being injured or killed because of being trapped in the skate bowl, unless it is closed off at night.
“The Arc is the only suitable and safe place for a skatepark in Clowne.”
Residents want the skatepark in an area that can be monitored, policed and locked up at night due to drug dealers in cars next to the allotment and boarding kennels on Hickinwood Lane. Used needles and broken glass bottles are regularly found on Clune Street recreation ground. And in the summer neighbours had to keep their door and windows closed due to the stench of cannabis coming from that direction.
Tom Scott, 61, National Commissionaire Manager, Corps of Commissionaires, Park View, Clowne said: “When the last Clowne skatepark was at the sidings my children were both young and wanted to use the facilities.
“We made a point of one day visiting and the thugs that were using made a point of telling us it was their skatepark and no one else was welcome.
“We have a friend that backs onto the sidings and it made their life hell well into the night.”
Residents are suspicious that the Parish Council wants to build the skatepark at Clune Street recreation ground, so it will be considered part of the recommended playing facilities of the nearby Clowne Garden Village once built.
Charlotte Hindley-Lange, 48, teacher at an alternative provision school, Linnet Way, Clowne believes the skatepark should also be at the Arc where more staff can oversee it. She said: “While I believe the skatepark is needed due to limited facilities in the area. I do not think the playing fields are the best location.
“I worked near to the local skatepark in Creswell. And while you could argue that was needed – almost immediately it did attract anti-social behaviour. The good point to this one is its locked at night.
“My concern for the Clune Street one is – it’ll be left open with no one keeping an eye on it. The field is very dark at night and backs onto fields and a country road. There’re many elderly people adjacent to where the suggested location is.”
The 200k contract to build the skatepark was awarded to Wheelscape Ltd. Elliot Hamilton, Managing Director and Co-Founder said: “We’re stoked the council chose to back us.
“Clowne Skatepark aims to inspire children to cross the barrier to entry and start moving.
“It is vibrant, colourful, age-and-stage appropriate, social (not just performance centred) and as accessible as possible.
“This is a vital public resource that will transform the health and wellbeing of the community now, and for generations to come.
“One of Wheelscape’s chief aims is to address the imbalance in participation between girls and boys.
“Something our research highlights time and again…boys, historically, dominate park – something we aim to change in every design.”
Steven Singleton, Clerk to Clowne Parish Council said: “The Parish Council has £200k ringfenced in an investment account which it has set aside for these works.
“There is also the potential for some Section 106 funds allocated to Clowne from a previous development.
“The funding is mostly part of the precept that the Parish Council has been building up for several years to pay for this project.”
“We have also ensured that Leisure Services at Bolsover District Council and Sport England were involved throughout to help us in our specification, costings and design choices.”
“We had several companies tender for these works and all said that the project funds allocated were adequate to deliver a good standard of skatepark.”
The Bolsover Skatepark completed in July 2024 cost £490,000 funded by Old Bolsover Town Council and the Safer Streets initiative. The project was delivered in partnership with Bolsover District Council and Extreme Wheels. It will remain to be seen if Clowne Parish Council’s funds which equate to less than half of those needed to build the Bolsover Skatepark will be enough. It does however raise the question whether there will be enough funds leftover to install CCTV and provide a barrier around the Clune Street skatepark at night.
In relation to the Arc leisure facility, Mr Singleton said: “We formally asked Bolsover district Council about the use of the former multi use games area as this was the Parish Council’s preferred site for the Skatepark as it was half ready in terms of foundations/base etc already built which would make the initial construction cheaper
“However, we were advised by Bolsover District Council that the site was not available as Bolsover DC had expressed preference that a sport activity should be identified which is more in keeping with the sport offering of the wider Arc facility.
“They also advised that they were in discussions with trustees of the former Clowne Town Tennis Club about reintroducing a tennis facility for Clowne at this site.”
Mr Scott Chambers, Communications, Marketing and Design Manager at Bolsover District Council said: “We rejected the proposal for the skatepark to be located at The Arc because the opening hours for our Go! Active leisure facility is not conductive for a skatepark i.e. we secure our premises and close and lock all the gates at 6pm on weekends when the skatepark would potentially still be in use.
“In terms of whether the proposed skatepark will be agreed or not, this will go to our planning department for full planning permission.”
The Arc leisure facility was originally built in 2005 as the Clowne Campus of the Chesterfield College Group using funding for young people. James Marples, Head of Brand and Communications at the college said: “The need at the time was to replace the North Derbyshire Tertiary College (which had the old skatepark as part of its land at the other side of Rectory Road) and provide 6th form education for the area which the local schools didn’t do at that time.”
The closing hours at the Arc on a weekday are 9pm and 6pm at the weekend, so the closing hours would only need to be extended by a few hours to reunite a divided Clowne community over the location of the skatepark.
Sergeant Martyn Whyte from Clowne Safer Neighbourhood team said: “Part of our core role as a Safer Neighbourhood team is to patrol our beat areas and engage with our communities – this will of course include the new skate park at Clune Street recreation ground in Clowne once it is built.
“While anti-social behaviour is something that affects all communities from time to time, we haven’t seen any direct correlation of this type of crime happening disproportionately at skatepark locations versus elsewhere in the north east Derbyshire area.
“There have of course been some incidents reported at other skateparks, but it is important to note that this does not mean they aren’t having a positive impact in the community.
“In Bolsover, for example, the recent skate park has helped reduce ASB in other areas such as outside shops or on local fields and parks. It has also provided engagement opportunities for young people with Extreme Wheels attending regularly and offering different activities.
“We understand the detrimental effect that ASB can have on communities and have a dedicated policing operation Op Shango – which focuses on hotspot policing to ensure that patrols, uniform and plain clothes, are targeted in areas where most reports occur.
“We will always monitor and respond to reports of ASB in an area and should we see an increase, we will work with local partner agencies to tackle this.
“Anyone who witnesses ASB is urged to report it to us via one of the following methods:
· Website – We have crime reporting tools on our website: use our online contact form
· Facebook – send us a private message to the Derbyshire Constabulary Facebook page
· Phone – call us on 101
You can also anonymously contact the independent charity CrimeStoppers, on 0800 555 111, or by visiting the CrimeStoppers website.”