Alice Springs Town Council passes motion to begin consultations for a new regional skate park facility

A new regional skate park facility may soon become a reality for Alice Springs, but details around the project remain scant.

A NEW regional skate park facility may soon become a reality for Alice Springs after the town council passed a motion to enter into consultations for the project at Tuesday’s ordinary meeting.

But due to a decision to keep the discussions confidential, details of the new facility – like potential locations and funding sources – remain scant.

Nonetheless, Mayor Matt Paterson, a long-time advocate for upgrading community facilities, said seeing the project get off the ground was “exciting”.

“There’s been a lot of discussion throughout the community about upgrading our skate park and so I congratulate the councillors about taking it upon themselves to go out and consult,” he said.

“I think everyone’s listened – they want to see community infrastructure built, which is exciting.”

Alice Springs Mayor Matt Paterson said seeing consultations underway for a regional skate park facility was ‘exciting’. Photo: Emma Murray.

It comes as the town’s only existing skate park remains shut over safety concerns. Repairs have been delayed several times, with the reopening date now pushed back to early December “at the latest”.

During general business, Mr Paterson brought a motion to the chamber to write a letter to the NT government to seek help in improving the town’s CCTV network.

Currently, Alice Springs’ CCTV cameras are not monitored live and belong to three separate bodies – the Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Logistics, NT Police and the Alice Springs Town Council.

“It’s about having a CCTV network where it’s all monitored in one place rather than going and monitoring them after the fact,” Mr Paterson said.

“It was something I wanted to bring up after I had discussions with the Ipswich mayor about their Safe City Program.”

A report was also shared in the council meeting summarising the outcomes of the 12-week Traditional Owner Community Support Patrol pilot. In an effort to reduce anti-social behaviour, Traditional Owners took to the streets of the CBD from 6.30pm-2am four nights a week, at a cost of about $19,000 per week.

Mr Paterson declared the trial a success and said the council was now in talks with Lhere Artepe about taking over the program into the future.