After a long two years of planning and development, and over £100k of funding from the Safer Streets Fund and a top up to £190k by North East Derbyshire District Council, Killamarsh has finally been able to open it's fully refurbished skate park.
After falling into a poor state of repair through lack of care and maintenance by previous Labour administrations, Conservative Parish Councillors pushed for funding to refurbish the Skate Park in a bid to help curb Anti Social Behaviour. The park was in such a poor state that it was attracting vandalism and damage, and was encouraging bad behaviour rather than preventing it.
Following support from Extreme Wheels, Conservative District Councillors Steve Clough and Alex Platts were guided to potential funding sources. Additional support was sought from the District Conservative Leadership, and then the project got off the ground. After initial designs had been presented following Parish and District elections in May 2023, a further push by new Killamarsh District Councillor Stephen Reed alongside Stephen Clough increased funding further to ensure Killamarsh got a refurbished park, better aligned with what was required for youngsters current needs. It is expected that the construction standard of the skate park means it will last in excess of 10 years, so it's money well invested. It wasn't just the ramps and quarter pipes either. It was a full resurface and repairs to fencing barrier protection too.
Steve Clough stated "thanks to the efforts and initiative once again of Killamarsh Conservatives, the community has benefited from further funded investment for the long term benefit of it's younger residents. This has been part of our continued strategy across the last 5 years to bring Killamarsh back up to scratch, and we're not done yet. We've been walking the well trodden path of hunting for proper grants and funding which we can make solid long term investments with. We want things that have longevity for our community, that provides our residents with long term impacts and benefits like safety and security, alongside improved wellbeing. This project would not have come to fruition if it wasn't for the Conservative Government's Safer Streets funding programme or the support of a Conservative District administration."
