Southbank Skate Park relocation

Many professional skateboarders rely on Southbank to practice for their livelihood. As well as being a mecca for skate boarders all over the world this is a very important place for many people not to mention the added value the park and professionals bring in terms of tourism. The proposal to move the skate park means it is not regarded as equally important as the the other cultural facilities at Southbank and it shows we are being marginalised and it proves that Southbank strategy is elitist and not serving local people. Many young local people start skating here, it is a social meeting place as well as a place for sport and artistic talent.

The proposal to move it underground, out of the way is not what we want. We want to keep it in it's current location - a highly visible and vibrant historic part of Southbank. Yes improve it, tidy it up but we do not want a 'plastic corporate' showpiece.

Does Southbank really need more shops and restaurants in it's place? We say NO!

Please support our fight to relocate the skate park

Save Southbank Skate Park

All true, complete travesty, but inevitable.
The current area about 20% of original size, chipped away over years/decades.
Heart breaking!

Skatergurrl I have a few questions that might help me form a view on this. Can you answer them or point me in the right direction?

You talk about Southwark Skatepark. Is it purpose built or an area that's been used over the years?

You say the proposal is to move in underground. The Festival Wing website says In its place we will provide a new riverside area on our site especially for urban artists. What specifically are they proposing for skaters and why is it wrong?

Lastly you assert that the area is being replaced by shops and restaurants. The proposals are for a new wing to the Southbank Centre that will improve performance space and facilities for disabled people and families. Are you being misleading, or am I missing something in the plans?

Truthmonkey - they want to move the skaters to the space under Hungerford Bridge

The undercroft area where the skatepark currently is will be filled with restaurants facing the river, effectively continuing the row of shops in front of the RFH. This is to generate revenue to help pay for the cultural stuff elsewhere in the complex.

Thanks James.

The Festival Wing looks very welcome to me, and using river views to finance the project seems sensible.

Is the new facility going to be smaller or in some other ways less good? I'm assuming (hopefully not naively) that it will be built by people who know how to design a good skate park.

James Hatts wrote:

Truthmonkey - they want to move the skaters to the space under Hungerford Bridge
The undercroft area where the skatepark currently is will be filled with restaurants facing the river, effectively continuing the row of shops in front of the RFH. This is to generate revenue to help pay for the cultural stuff elsewhere in the complex.

Slowly the South Bank is becoming less and less relaxing as it rapidly is being filled with cafes and restaurants. Has been such a great place to just do nothing for so long. Boo!

I agree with you Merlin Rouge, I love being able to walk along the Southbank with no purpose in mind other than enjoying the river and the relaxed atmosphere. I hated the winter market last year; the smell of food was awful and there wasn't enough room to stroll. Obviously something needs done to the area though as it is looking very tatty. I would like to see more areas like the skateboarding bit, (good) street entertainment, mobile art/craft/sculpture exhibitions etc and much less restaurants. Cafe shacks would be okay too as long as they just offered a welcome cuppa and nothing in a bun or polystyrene container! My impression at the moment is that the only development in Waterloo and Blackfriars is for tourism, commercialism and rich people (expensive housing), and nothing to do with the many thousands of people who have lived in the area for years, and in some cases, for generations.

I despair for the Southbank and its future. I am fortunate in that I can remember when it first got its name Southbank and the 1951 exhibition and St. John's church being repaired after the war damage and getting the title Festival Church. It was all so much more elegant then.#The pavilions, halls, buildings and structures whilst modernistic seemed welcoming, the public enjoyed the facilities in a quiet good humoured way and did not move about in the frenetic manner they now seem to do.
Now the whole thing reminds me of the front at Blackpool or Southend, tacky and second class with unwelcome touches of the third world.
What St. Johns church and its environs have become makes me shudder.
The skateboard park was a certainty to suffer it would seem it is better to have finger food or street food outlets than an arena of real skills.
That's commercialism in practice.From the little one man band or "entrepreneur" to the giant international corporation they all want you to put your hand in your pocket.
There seem to be so many people/organisations making sure they have their finger in the pie that any idea of how the public can be best served, overall, has been abandoned.

Following this trend, what's next to go? The bookstalls? I avoid the Southbank like the plague these days...

Skatergurrl wrote:

Many professional skateboarders rely on Southbank to practice for their livelihood.

lol no

Skatergurrl wrote:

As well as being a mecca for skate boarders

Its not Love Park in Philly, get a grip.

Skatergurrl wrote:

this is a very important place for many people not to mention the added value the park and professionals bring in terms of tourism.

lol

Skatergurrl wrote:

it is not regarded as equally important as the the other cultural facilities at Southbank

It isnt

Skatergurrl wrote:

it shows we are being marginalised and it proves that Southbank strategy is elitist and not serving local people

Bollocks

Skatergurrl wrote:

Many young local people start skating here, it is a social meeting place as well as a place for sport and artistic talent.

If I was to draw up a list of places NOT to start practice skating, it would be near the top. You dont just throw down and skate that block or ollie down the gap in week 1 of St0nerDude69s first time skating manual. Its cramped and owing to it being a goldfish bowl helps approximately -9000%. Also it has always had a bit of a bad rep for fights and hostility and da ganja.

Skatergurrl wrote:

Does Southbank really need more shops and restaurants in it's place?

Yes probably

eDWaRD WooDWaRD wrote:

I avoid the Southbank like the plague these days...

Thanks