New skate park for Oakdale community in Caerphilly

YOUNG people in Oakdale, a community in the Caerphilly county borough, are enhancing their skateboarding skills thanks to the recent replacement of their local skate park.

Caerphilly County Borough Council invested £50,000 through its Welsh Housing Quality Standard (WHQS) programme into replacing the previous skate park with a new concrete pour design, developed by experienced UK skate park contractor Bendcrete.  The WHQS programme will see over £260 million invested into the homes of Council tenants and local communities throughout the county borough.

Thanks to additional funding via Play Wales, the Council’s Positive Futures team, who form part of Sport Caerphilly, are also working alongside semi-professional skateboarder and Director of Skateboard Academy UK, Sam Horler, offering sessions for young people aged 5 – 17 to learn how to use the parks safely and skateboarding skills.

The Positive Futures team organised a small group session, in line with Covid-19 regulations, to celebrate the completion of the new Oakdale skate park recently and the team will be rolling these sessions out to skate parks throughout the county borough in the coming months.

Cllr Lisa Phipps, the Council’s Cabinet Member for Housing and Property, said

“The Council’s WHQS team has worked with local communities to understand their local priorities in relation to environmental improvements delivered as part of the WHQS programme.  In the case of Oakdale, we also asked the community to give us their views on their preferred design for the new skate park.

It’s fantastic to see different teams like WHQS and Positive Futures coming together in projects like this, and working with experienced professionals like Bendcrete and Sam, to really make a difference to our young people.  I’m sure this new facility will be enjoyed for generations to come.”