Bid for support to construct skate plaza for city

An artist's impressions of the proposed skate plaza.

An exciting new solution has been proposed to combat the problems caused by Tauranga skateboarders who seek challenges outside the city's "extremely poor" skateparks.

Garth Urquhart, the inspiration behind the transformation of Memorial Park's old roller park, has urged the council to consider supporting the construction of a skate plaza - the attractive and much more socially acceptable face of the sport.

He argued that a world-class skate plaza would strengthen Tauranga's appeal as a surfing destination for tourists. "We all know the intrinsic link between skateboarding, surfing and other board sports."

"I am a concrete specialist and I can tell you that every skate park in our city has been built with poor quality materials ... there is no limit to the negativity that surrounds a badly built skate park," he told councillors yesterday.

Tauranga had fallen behind in the global multi-billion dollar skateboarding industry. Mr Urquhart said poor design had made skateparks more dangerous than they needed to be, with fewer people using them because of incorrect heights and angles.

"It is well know in the skateboard community that Tauranga and the Mount had poor skate facilities ... cost cutting has meant the parks are disintegrating and in need of far more maintenance than they should."

And if skateboarders were not in skateparks they were out and about skating on whatever they could find, whether it was public or private property, he said.

An artist's impressions of the proposed skate plaza.

Mr Urquhart's solution was the modern and more acceptable face of skateboarding, saying skate plazas looked good and consequently did not upset locals. They were built with modern architecture in mind which meant skateboarders did not need to hunt the streets for obstacles. Auckland and Hastings had completed plazas that catered for all levels of ability and, because they were integrated into parks, appealed to families.

Instead of ugly old concrete skateparks, skate plazas were aesthetically pleasing, with beautiful shapes created using coloured concrete and the addition of gardens and themes, he said.

Mr Urquhart was "blown away" by the annual Bowlarama event at Sydney's Bondi Beach which attracted people from all over the world. "It made us realise that New Zealand should have a shot at something like this too."

He said Memorial Park was the perfect spot for the creation of a skate plaza. "Please help us out, Tauranga needs this."

Skate Plazas

*Look similar to a paved park area
*Features look more like a typical pedestrian plaza
*Varying heights with stairs and seats usable by the public and skateboarders