by Stephen Waite

Skateboarders are embarking on a massive project to build a park in Sittingbourne.

Jordan Rogers, 16, is chairman of the Sittingbourne Skatepark Fund, set up last October to create somewhere for them to pursue their hobby after constantly finding themselves being asked to move on, but they need to find around £200,000 to see their dream become reality.

Jordan, who goes to Borden Grammar School, said they are up for the challenge.

“We know we want to create a permanent outdoor skatepark in a central location and, if we had to pick, it would be in one of the main parks.

“We’ve gained support from the council [Swale] in the last 12 months and it seems they are in support of us building on a bit of land owned by the council.

“We’ve just got to raise funds now. We think that, with the different grants available, if we can produce a convincing case, we can acquire that amount of money.”

At the moment, skaters meet in Central Avenue or Roman Square but have nowhere in town specifically for skating or BMXing.

Jordan has been working on designs for the park, based on a bowl complex, with ramps, curves and other features sunk into the ground.

“A lot of us like how the skatepark in Dartford looks,” he added. “We want to piece together favourite parts of parks we’ve been to and favourite parts of the street and use that in whatever we create.”

He said companies that build parks would be approached to give input on the plans and to come up with quotes to do the work.

“We have £2,000 from councillors who have donated,” he continued. “We’re now going to write off to bigger funders.”

The group, made up of nine 15 to 21 year olds, aims to start by raising the profile of the project and are planning a launch event.

They have set up a Facebook group for anyone interested to follow progress, which has attracted mainly positive comments but also a few doubters.

“If I see someone saying it’s not going to happen it makes me want to prove them wrong,” said Jordan.

“These are people who do not know how much work has been going on.”

For more on the project, search for Build Sittingbourne’s Skatepark on Facebook.