Skating plans

GET your skates on and hurry along to Norton Common in Letchworth GC this weekend.

The proposed design for a skate park alongside the play area there will be on show and its location marked out on the ground.

Residents are being invited to see for themselves how the facility will fit in with the Common and give their opinions.

Officers from North Herts District Council will be there between 10.30am and noon on Saturday to meet people and answer their questions.

The proposed skate park, which has been designed following consultation with the youngsters who will use it, is in response to a 2004 district wide survey which showed that residents in Letchworth GC considered facilities for teenagers should be the number one priority.

Out of various possible sites, Norton Common was chosen because it is central and already has a wide range of formal recreational activities including a swimming pool, tennis courts, bowling greens and a play area.

The council says that the skate park will be linked to these and not to an area of the Common which is shortly to be designated a local nature reserve.

It also reassures the public that the park has been designed "on modest lines" with the aim of being in keeping with the rest of the Common.

Cllr Ian Knighton, NHDC portfolio holder for leisure, said: "The uninitiated could be forgiven for thinking that this is not a skate park at all.

"However the youngsters who designed it are keen to have somewhere to skate away from the town centre where they know it is causing a problem."

The results of the consultation and comments will be reported to NHDC's Letchworth area committee on January 25.

A group, Friends of Norton Common, is welcoming new members to help with the care and safeguarding of the open space.

Their next meeting is at 7.30pm on Thursday, February 2, at the pavilion on Norton Common.

Call The Countryside Management Service for more information on 01462 459395.