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Published:
February 23, 2006
'Crackdown
on seafront skateboarders' call Burnham residents
Seafront
residents in
Burnham-On-Sea have called
on town councillors to crackdown on skateboarders who use The
Esplanade.
Residents
from Vicarage Court told the council's Town Improvements Commitee
on Wednesday night that the issue had "got out of hand"
and that "prompt action" was needed to avoid accidents.
 "They
constantly bang the pavements and make lots of noise that annoys
nearby residents. What's more, they put up ramps and set up metal
bars that could easily cause an accident," said Linda Bacon,
one of the residents.
"Earlier
in February, two skateboarders went onto private property and
caused one elderly resident a great deal of distress. She was
badly frightened."
"We
need signs along the seafront or something to help address this
problem."
Town
clerk Eileen Shaw said that bye-laws do state that skateboarding
is not allowed on the seafront, but she added that "from
conversations with the police, it would be difficult to enforce
these while there are no signs in the area."
Former
Mayor Louise Parkin added that she too had received several complaints
about the problem. "Some resident just hear thud, thud, thud
all day when the skateboarders are in the area," she said.
"I've seen parents drop their children with skateboards off
on the seafront even come back later with sandwiches for them,
which is a tad irresponsible."
"We
do have a £50,000 skate park at Apex Park which is not being
used to its maximum."
Cllr
Neville Jones described the problem as a "long running saga"
and proposed that leaflets be printed highlighting the issue and
outlining the rules. He suggested that they should be given to
skateboarders by local police. And
Councillor Chris Williams said "people have been plagued
by this problem for some time. It's about time we took some action."
But
Cllr Ken Smout warned: "If you tackle the problem in one
area, you run the risk of moving it to another part of town. You've
got to look at the wider issues here."
It
looks likely that the council will print leaflets and get them
distributed to skateboarders who use The Esplanade.
| .A
seafront skateboarder responds... |
 One
seafront skateboarder, Ryan Ayres, contacted Burnham-On-Sea.com
about the proposals, and said: "We are not dangerous - maybe
just to ourselves by falling off. And if we do fall over near
someone we always say sorry instantly."
"We
have spoken to the residents over the road at the block of flats
and they said they didn't mind us skateboarding there as long
as it was for short periods."
"We
skate on weekdays from around 4pm until 6 or 7. When it rains
or is wet you won't ever see us due to the weather damaging our
boards. We skate elsewhere at weekends."
Ryan
said
that many skateboarders do not like to use the Apex skate park
due to what he alleged was "drug dealing" in the area
and rubbish at the facility. "It's not a nice environment,
and also skateboarding about two miles from Burnham
isn't very nice."
He
added: "I do think there should be better facilities. If
you look at Glastonbury
skate park, it cost around £30,000 and is amazing. Ours
in Burnham cost more and is worse - that's not right. They should
have got some views from skateboarders to what they wanted in
the skatepark, not what the council wants."
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