A drop-in event for residents to find out more about the creation of a £1.3m skatepark in Cliftonville will be held this month.
The skatepark, on the site of the former crazy golf course in Ethelbert Crescent, is one of the £22.2m Margate Town Deal projects. The town deal funding was granted for Margate in March 2021.
The project originally had funding of £750k but the gained an additional £175,000 which was reallocated after £500,000 was withdrawn from the Oval Bandstand and Lawns project. Thanet council then agreed to add a further £350,000, moved from a Town Deal highways and signage scheme. The total sum includes £59,000 match funding from the council. A £100k pledge has also been made by artist Tracey Emin but has not been included in the overall TDC budget.
Covering almost an acre, the park is likely to include various-sized bowls, ramps and ledges, capable of catering for 100 users.
There was already a skatepark on the site from 2013-14 known as Little Oasis. It was the product of the local community coming together to build it, but TDC ruled it unsafe and had it flattened in 2014.
The skatepark, new kiosk and toilets, will remain under the Thanet council for management, maintenance and repair. Margate Skateboard Club CIC, headed up by Skate Pharm’s Nic Powley and Dan Cates, initially proposed the skatepark project as part of the Town Deal process.
It will be free to use and open to all. There will be coaching on offer to help people improve their skills. It will also host events, workshops and other activities.
Last month Thanet council appointed Betongpark Limited as the official contractor for the redevelopment of site. The contract is worth £1.1m with council documents listing £1.3m as the overall total spend.
The public drop in event is taking place on Thursday 23rd April from 3pm to 7pm at The Family Hub (formerly the Quarterdeck) opposite Aldi, Zion Place.
It is an opportunity to speak directly with the design team, ask questions, and feed into how the skatepark could look and work for the community.
Scorcha Skate School, led by Kane McArthur, will be running free skateboarding sessions at the drop-in event.
Sessions are also planned with pupils at Hartsdown Academy and primary schools in Cliftonville.
Cllr Ruth Duckworth, Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Property at Thanet District Council, said: “This project is an amazing opportunity to give our local young people a world-class, free-to-use asset that they can truly be proud of. Beyond providing a safe space for activity, we believe this skatepark will significantly improve mental and physical wellbeing by giving residents a place to socialise and be proud of.
“We want to ensure this space meets the needs of every user, from those stepping on a board for the first time, to seasoned skaters. I strongly encourage people to come along, share their views on the designs, and help us choose a name that reflects the spirit of Margate.”
Anyone who is unable to attend the event can view the designs and share their feedback on Your Voice Thanet, the council’s public engagement website, for one week from Thursday 23 April.
Following the engagement period, the designs will be refined, taking into account the feedback received. The designs will be reviewed by an independent design review panel, ahead of the formal planning application.
If approved, construction is expected to begin in summer 2026, with the skatepark anticipated to open to the public in spring 2027.
Previously the skatepark site, opposite Bugsy’s Tenpin Bowling centre, was used as two Arnold Palmer 18 hole courses overlooking the sea.
The miniature golf courses were part of the Arnold Palmer Enterprises empire set-up in 1961 that saw the legendary golfer’s name licensed and franchised to a wide-range of activities and products.
The Cliftonville courses were removed in 2014 along with the flattening of Oasis skate park.
With the proposed Skate Park being on a prime seafront site it’s a wonder the present TDC haven’t sold it off yet as a brown field site for housing or used it for a traveler site. Would any developer want to spend £1.1m for the site with the potential that planning would be refused….No. Lets use taxpayers money for a project that will only be used during warm weather and deteriorate during inclement, frosty freezing winters being left open to the elements. Lets use property tax payers money and put a roof over it at a later date.
£1.3 million! There are so many things that money could have been used for, in benefiting the whole community. Instead wasted (remember it’s our money in taxes). I am not against play area’s, but this money will be used up with multiple stakeholders and consultants, and finally on a principal contractor, to build it. Going forward, No funding for ongoing maintenance, therefore with little usage a part from drug dealing transactions. It will close, the operates blaming everyone apart from themselves! The site will revert back to a wasteland and maybe at that point sold off in five years time?
Great use of money. The UK lacks decent skateparks overall, in 2013 a community made skatepark was destroyed in the same locations as the proposed. 1.3 million well spent, it will boost the area for travel, it keeps people off the streets and a chance to build a better community. Yet your response is to say it’s a waste? This feels very narrow minded comment.
The site cannot be used for development as there is a restrictive covenant on it going back to the Cliftonville Hotel days. There is also a height restriction to stop anything being built above the level of the hedge on the border of Ethelbert Crescent and the Crazy golf courses.
It seems the skate park is ideal in this respect as will not protrude.
I do wonder about how it will pay for itself though to include wages for those running it and giving classes. Then of course the maintenance of the site itself.
Amazing how the numbers add up, a project that’s taken 5 years to get -not very far- and seemingly needs an additional £525k. Also was it not previously reported that Tracy Emmin had put some money in? In addition has it been calculated as to what (if any) support the facility is going to require from the council tax payer? At one point it was suggested the kiosk was going to managed by the skatepark and any surplus used to maintain and run it, is this no longer the case and instead the local council tax payer is instead going to take on this unknown cost? Presumably it’ll need insuring, lighting , toilets cleaned, etc etc.
How nice does that picture look from years gone by. Would have been nice to have golf courses again, similar to the one in Walmer. We all know the local youth Roma gangs will vandalise, graffiti and “take over” the area as they do with the children’s park as police are scared of racial profiling this bunch.
Margate looked so much nicer in the last pic.