Watton land transfer gives new hope to skateboards

YOUNGSTERS' hopes of seeing a skate park built in the mid-Norfolk market town where they live look a step closer after details of a new land transfer deal emerged.

YOUNGSTERS' hopes of seeing a skate park built in the mid-Norfolk market town where they live look a step closer after details of a new land transfer deal emerged.

Breckland Council looks set to transfer land it owns at Lovell Gardens and Stokes Avenue in Watton into the ownership of the town council.

The deal, which could be finalised within months, would also see the town council paid a one-off capital sum to be custodians of the land, however, Breckland Council would remain responsible for grassing cutting and any play equipment through its current maintenance contract.

A spokesman for Breckland said the council could not reveal how much it would be paying the town council until legal contracts had been finalised, a process which it expected to take up to three months.

News of the deal will give fresh hope to youngsters in the town who earlier this year renewed their drive to see a skate park built.

A petition of more than 100 signatures was handed into the town council in May.

Collected by a group of young skaters, it was signed by local homeowners in and around the Lovell Gardens area who all said they would not be averse to seeing a skate park built near them.

The controversial issue of giving Watton skaters somewhere to practice has dragged on for more than half a decade.

At one point the council won �30,000 worth of funding to build a park on the Stokes Avenue sports field but the plan had to be abandoned after opposition from some nearby homeowners.

The council was unable to find another suitable site and eventually had to hand the money back.