‘You deserve a new one’: Community members ask questions of Alice Springs’ skate park closure

Skate enthusiasts packed into the Alice Springs Town Council meeting on Tuesday night to ask questions of the recent unheralded closure of the town’s only skate park.

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TWO dozen skate enthusiasts packed into the Alice Springs Town Council meeting on Tuesday night to ask questions of the recent unheralded closure of the town’s only skate park.

Community members in the gallery raised concerns about where this decision to shut the park over safety issues had left the scores of skate park users while they wait for a re-open date, which has not been specified.

Two dozen skate enthusiasts packed into the Alice Springs Town Council meeting to ask questions. Photo: Lee Robinson

One by one, members of the age-diverse gallery expressed they felt disregarded in the skate park decision-making process and questioned why plans for a new skate park in 2018, which were unanimously supported by council, were ultimately scrapped.

“I see the skate park as an inclusive place where everyone can come and have a good time,” said one community member in attendance.

“We want the opportunity to have multiple spaces for kids to go at any time – not one space.

“If we had different options, we wouldn’t have the problem we face today, that when one park is closed they have nowhere to go.”

Skaters and skate enthusiasts attend Alice Springs Town Council meeting. Picture: Supplied

Following a comment from Mayor Damien Ryan suggesting the council was restricted by money in its plans for a new park, another community member responded by questioning government spending priorities.

“Well I wonder about this given it’s the same week a $64 million commitment has been made for youth detention,” she said, referring to the Territory 2021-22 budget commitment to overhaul youth justice centres in Darwin and Alice Springs.

“When will our leaders collaborate to make decisions that are in the best interest of all community members?”

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Council chief executive Robert Jennings explained that council sought to find both an interim solution to re-open the 17-year-old park as soon as possible as well as a long-term solution that could involve building a new park or multiple parks in town.

Mr Jennings said that while safety was the biggest concern for council, the best outcome for the skate park would come through working with the community.

“We’d like to work together so that we get it right,” he said.

“We’ve got engineers and architects and all those people, but we need the users’ input to get the best result.”

Cr Matt Paterson, who forwarded the motion in 2018 for a new skate, came out in support of the skate enthusiasts, but raised concerns about community support.

“I’ve been pushing this skate park for years, but there was (little) support from community in 2018,” he said.

“You deserve a new one – it’s 17 years old.

“When the consultation happens, you need to get there and support it,” he told the gallery.

Following a successful motion by Cr Jimmy Cocking to establish a skate park users group, Cr Jamie de Brenni forwarded a general business motion that “council officers work with the skate park users working group to expedite interim and long-term solutions that meet user and expectations with urgency”, which was supported unanimously.

The group will be invited to a meeting next month to begin planning the new skate park facilities following the return of some group members from a skateboarding competition in Perth.

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