Monday 23 April 2012

Chalkhill children need summer activities

St David's Open Space very early Sunday morning
I was pleased to see that football posts have now been installed at St David's Close Open Space on Chalkhill. This was one of the requests made by local people and Chalkhill Primary School children at a meeting held with the head of Brent Parks and Sports and Cllr Choudhary in October 2011.

Because of the further delay in the building of Chalkhill Park in my role as Chair of Governors I have backed the request by Chalkhill Pupil School Council for the refurbishment of the BMX track at St David's and installation of a skateboarding area.

The overgrown BMX track
With the new Chalkhill Park now not likely to open until November as work has not yet started (see below) we have asked for the BMX track and skateboarding area to be ready for the summer holiday. Along with activities at Poplar Grove Youth Centre this would give children and youth from Chalkhill some facilities during the break.

The Chalkhill Park site two weeks ago
I understand but have not had confirmed that a contractor has been found to build the Park. Brent Council Parks and Sports department are employing Bike Track to consult with the people of Chalkhill on the possibility of a BMX track or alternatively/additionally a skate boarding/scooter park area.

3 comments:

Ale B said...

I've heard the council has finally appointed a contractor to build the park. Any idea who will do the works and when they will start?

Martin Francis said...

I don't know the name of the contractor but they are due to start this month.

Unknown said...

I know this is quite an old post, but being a Wembley Local and one who also skates, I would love to know what the progression of this was? I wrote an e-mail to Brent council over a year ago in regards to the now run down and somewhat embarrassing excuse for a skatepark situated in tokyngton recreational grounds. It has been subject to vandalism, weathering and neglect, with no consideration as to its users. Other boroughs have been funding projects that have been managed immaculately. The best example I could provide was that of our neighbouring borough - Ealing, they have successfully built a skatepark next to Gurnell leisure centre and have managed it with nothing but professionalism; the key attributes of which were communication with the community and the use of social media. Now I understand that this is probably not the right place for me to voice these views, alas my efforts to raise this with Brent Council have gone unacknowledged. Am I being overly optimistic in regards to Wembley? Who knows. Maybe this is a subject matter which just isn't feasible. However my attempts at ascertaining this have been ignored. If there is a way of voicing these views to the people who matter I must be overlooking it completely. I have come across a lot of skaters in the local area, numbers range from between 40-50. Simply put, the demand is there. It's time for Wembley to take action and provide amenities for its youth.