THE saga of Studley skate park rumbles on following recognition that the anti-graffiti coating it’s covered in is ‘the wrong paint’.
The village hit the national headlines last year after resident Craig Hunt, alarmed at the obscene graffiti sprayed on the park, took it upon himself to paint it over.
He was told he’d used ‘the wrong paint’ and was astonished when local police knocked on his door and presented him with a bill for £277.50 to put it right.
Although that bill was later withdrawn concerned mums told councillors last December that the anti-graffiti paint they had subsequently used on the park had made it ‘like an ice rink’.
On Tuesday night (April 17) local resident Richard Higgins told the Parish Council he’d researched the subject and found the industry standard was non-slip paint rather than anti-graffiti.
“Everyone seems to think that it’s not the right thing to use on the park and with different weather conditions a silicon-based anti-graffiti paint is not really suitable for safety,” he said.
He’d looked into the cost of getting it repainted and the price he’d come up with was £5,000.
Coun Brian Dixon said he’d visited the skate park and although he’d slipped and fallen, his grandchildren had walked on the surface without any difficulty.
“If we are going to spend money on this it has got to be done right because it has got to be the last money we spend on it,” he said.
Coun Jim Bacon said given the lack of facilities for young people in the village it was unthinkable to do away with the facility.
Coun Sue Redmond added -’without making any promises’ – that there might just be enough money available to re-paint the facility while parish clerk Lesley Gailey added that money paid to the authority by developers to enhance the area could help too.
Members also agreed to set up an agreed procedure for monitoring the facility and called for volunteers to help keep watch over the skate park while it is repainted to stop eager youngsters damaging the new surface.
