A major consultation on plans to build a skate park at a Portishead beauty spot will get underway in the autumn.
Portishead Wheels and Skate Park, working with Portishead Town Council, is currently drawing up a consultation on the plans to build a wheels park at the Lake Grounds.
North Somerset Council, which owns the beauty spot, has already agreed to give landlords consent to the group to use the land at the rear of the current boathouse, subject to funding and planning permission being secured.
A consultation was held last year on the proposal with the Lake Grounds being chosen as the favoured location.
The new consultation, which it is hoped will run in October, will look at issues such as the opening times of the new skate park, security of the site and what lighting may be needed.
The group is now looking at the best way of running the consultation in light of the current Covid-19 guidelines.
Due to the fact that large gatherings are still prohibited and many community halls are still closed, it may be the consultation is focused online.
It is hoped the results of the consultation will be finalised by the winter.
The results will help shape a pre-planning application which is expected to be submitted by the group by the end of the year.
A full planning application is expected to be put to North Somerset Council next year.
Portishead councillor Ben Aldridge said: “We are currently working on drawing up the questions for a far more detailed consultation which we hope to launch in the autumn.
“Due to the coronavirus pandemic we are also looking at the best way of how to run such a consultation.
“We will be asking local people and those in the wider Portishead community for their thoughts on issues such as opening times of the new skate park and what security is needed.
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“It is very much full steam ahead with our plans but Covid 19 has meant we are about three months further behind with the project than we wanted to be.”
There has been a long running ambition to site a skate park at the lake grounds over recent years.
Planning permission was granted on appeal for a skate park at the Lake Grounds in 2011.
However the project never moved forward because North Somerset Council at the time refused to grant landlords consent.
The park will not only be for skateboarding but also for scooter, rollerblade and BMX users.
The preferred design is for a ‘pump park’ which would see a concrete skating bowl set into the ground with a BMX track around the perimeter.
The facility is expected to cost between £160,000 and £300,000 depending on the design.
Funding will be sought from various grant bodies as well as the town and district council and a fundraising campaign will be launched.
The move to build a skate park at the lake grounds – described as the jewel in North Somerset’s crown – has proved controversial over the years.
The previous Conservative run administration at the council had blocked the scheme, refusing to give landlords consent despite skate park campaigners winning planning permission at appeal.
Those against the plan say the lake grounds should be protected as a green space and allowing a skate park could set a dangerous precedent for further developments.
Over the years numerous locations for a new skate park in Portishead have been considered including land at Bristol Road and Kilkenny Fields.
A skate park already exists at Merlin Park in the town.
But as the sport has become more popular in recent years, so has the desire for a bigger and better facility.
