Having turned up at the Beverley Leisure Centre this morning to photograph a number of football games my attention was quickly drawn to something else.
Beverley Skate Park, a flagship project in the town, a popular place for young people looks more like a recycling place than recreational facility.
Scattered around the inside, on the outside is countless bottles, broken glass, cans and discarded food containers.
Why not put it in the bin I hear you ask, well I thought the same. I took a look at the two litter bins, both of which are spilling out they are so full.
In the bins, there are bags of dog’s mess, why anyone would even think it was OK to discard such waste inside a play area shock me, as a dog owner, I would certainly never do that.
One youngster told me it had been weeks since the bins were last emptied, he said that the bottles were attracting wasps and a lad he knew was stung badly not so long ago.
He also added that when they tell people who are discarding their dog waste in the bins they pretty much told to do one.
It seems the Beverley Skate Park is the responsibility of Beverley Town Council. They have their name all over it. I did put a call into to a local councillor while I was there who in turn reported it to East Riding of Yorkshire Council.
If you have children who are using this facility you may want to go and have a look for yourself, I know for a fact I would not be best pleased having my children play there.
I will return next weekend and see if anything has changed, there is no reason on this earth why a facility like that should be neglected to the extent is has been, questions need to be asked.
typical council wasting money on things that aren’t needed yet let sites like this go in to disrepair
In replt to the above letter about the state of the skate park i have seen on regular occasions the town council cleaning up the litter. I regulary cut through from the allotments on spark mill and have noticed a large amount of young people smoking, drinking,eating takaways and constantly swearing, when on occasions I have ask them to refrain from swearing and littering all I get back is physical and verbal abuse. The children in Beverley dont have any respect for people or the enviroment they live in.
My son has just started using it and it worries me no end. However I think people from the youth and family support service have workers unobtrusively patrolling the area on an evening, trying to engage them in a positive manner to respect the area. From what I can gather they do a great job and get on well with the kids.
Alternatively a new indoor skate park has just opened on tokenspire retail park. It’s called “TasR” and it is only a few quid to go. There’s a cafe, pool tables, games consoles and a chill out area. Maybe the kids should go there, where it is monitored (plus warm and dry). I’m sure I would rather pay £3 to know its inside, monitored and safe. It’s so difficult as kids will be kids and they have a habit of doing what they like!! I’m trying to encourage my son to go to the indoor one. Watch this space lol x