We speak to Matt Evans, who – along with a group of other locals – is trying to revamp the Roundhay Park Skatepark.
Seeing the dilapidated state of his local skatepark in Roundhay Park, Matt Evans got together with a group of like-minded locals, including Paul Donnelly and Ralph Tinsley, with one goal: to revamp the park into a space suitable
for everyone. Matt, a skater himself, felt that the skatepark as it exists now left something to be desired: “About two years ago, a group of parents and local residents got together for various different reasons wanting to do something about the current skatepark in Roundhay Park. That skatepark has been there for over 20 years and it’s not fit for purpose.”
With many people interested in breathing life back into the existing skate park, a plan was formed and the group came together as an organisation to make the project happen: “We formed a not-for-profit company, set up a website and social media, and set about raising awareness. We try to have a presence at any event around Oakwood, just to raise the profile of the project.”
The vision behind the skatepark is for it to be a space not just for skaters, but for the community at large: “We want this skatepark to be not just a skatepark, but a place for people to hang out, for families to go sit and have barbeques and play games, a space for everybody. We also want it to have a section for less able- bodied people. One of the guys on the team has twins who have cerebral palsy. He’s a skater and he really wanted his children to skate. One of them needs more assistance than the other, and he’s developed a prototype in his head of how we would do that. Basically, there would be a section of the park which is low-key and has smaller obstacles, and it would have a rail overhead that you can hook a harness onto and use the park. We’ve approached a few disability charities and they’re really excited about that.
“We’ve designed the park ourselves, consulting with the wider community and the skating community. We’ve been very careful not to come up with some huge concrete monstrosity and have people go: ‘Well, that’s just for skaters.’ We want it to be more of a plaza style skatepark, not overwhelming.”
The plan has seen a lot of support from the Oakwood community, including local businesses, and also Leeds City Council: “We presented to Leeds City Council at a deputation. That’s where you stand up in front of the Lord Mayor and 100 councillors and state your case.
They have a show of hands – and that was probably the most nerve-wracking things I’ve ever done – but we got 100 out of 100 to raise their hands in support. It will probably cost between £500,000 and £750,000 to make this happen, but we can reduce that significantly with the help of local businesses.” Matt and the team have already heard from several businesses owners in the Oakwood area saying they’d like to help.
Oakwood’s community has really gotten behind the skatepark project, and the story has even attracted the attention of a young filmmaker: “It’s a true community project, it’s self-raised and self-funded, and people in the community have massively gotten behind it. There’s even a young local skater who is studying film in college. For his final project he wanted to do a documentary of the story so far. He’s just finished filming a really exciting documentary that will be made for his course, and we’ll also get to use it for publicity.”
Go to Roundhayskatepark.com or appeal@ roundhayskatepark.com for more about the project and the fundraising events planned.