Tairua skate park nears funding goal while Mercury Bay skate park close to opening

Freeman Rowe-Smith of Tairua at Whangamata's new skate park. Photo / Alison Smith

Three decades after the small Coromandel community of Tairua asked its council for a skate park, the current generation of young skaters and scooterers are getting a place to call their own.

And there is more good news for the Coromandel skaters, as Thames-Coromandel District Council is aiming to have the Mercury Bay skate park completed for the Christmas summer holidays.

For Tairua residents, it has been a 30-year wait for a place for skaters to call home, with plans including a street skate section, bowl and landscaped grounds to be located at the end of Cory Park Domain, the only active recreation zone in town.

The proposal for the skate park is estimated at $450,000 and community fundraising was required for $150,000 of the cost before construction. In three weeks, the Tairua Sports and Recreation Trust raised just over $105,000 for the project from companies, individuals and families.

The proposed design for the Tairua skate facility. Photo / File

One such generous donation came from Rebecca Railton and husband Lawrence, who donated $50,000 to the project.

The couple own AS Colour, a clothing brand started after Lawrence's career in the skate industry and which now supplies quality clothing to the home of skateboarding, California, as well as to its online and retail stores throughout New Zealand, Australia and the UK.

"Our kids have a passion for scootering," said Railton.

"I see what a difference it makes for my kids.

"One of my son's anxiety is reduced so much from going to the skate park and if it can help my child, it can help others."

She said many of her kids' friendships are formed at the skate park.

"One of our boys especially, he'll come back from the skate park the chirpiest little thing. Our kids meet so many kids at the skate park. Especially if you are not a naturally extroverted friend maker, it's really made a difference in our kids' lives."

Among the supporters for the Tairua skate park is also the Cory-Wright family.

Viv Cory-Wright - whose grandfather Harold Cory-Wright gifted the park land over 70 years ago - made a plea to councillors in early September.

"I want to know how the NIMBYs [Not In My Back Yard] and a handful of bach owners have had so much influence on TCDC's decisions on this project in the past.

"Who has the agenda that has let Tairua's kids be discriminated against? We have been left with absolutely nothing but the assumption that someone here has an agenda to stop this project," she said.

"If you live next to the Cory Park Domain, expect to hear people enjoying themselves at the Cory Park Domain. Skateboarding is now an Olympic sport. So these people need to move with the times, or just move," she told the full council meeting.

The council is also pushing very hard to complete the skate park ahead of Christmas - but it may be likely that the basketball court isn't ready, as one of the concrete pours has not met standards and has been removed. It's scheduled to be re-poured this week which will have an impact on the construction programme.