Bristol skateboarding: Petition to save park from demolition

The area is one of many used by Bristol skateboarders to practice

Campaigners are urging a rethink on plans to demolish a skate-park to make way for nearby housing.

Daveside is a small community skatepark and social hub in Bristol, which is under threat due to construction.

One group described the area as "sacred", and have said the plans are "absolutely" an example of gentrification in Bristol.

Developer Vistry Group said the new homes would "breathe life" into the area.

Now, there is a petition to "save the skate spot" and focus on what the site represents for its users.

The skatepark consists of ramps and quarter pipes, and is located along the cycle path besides Clanage Road.

The site features graffiti from locals

It has been a frequented site for many, and has been described as "beneficial" by a skateboarding youth group.

While the area itself will remain a cycle path and is not being built on, the parts that make it a skatepark will be removed due to their proximity to the new housing, which comprises 98 homes.

'Feels like gentrification'

Visitors are urged by fellow skaters to keep the area tidy, so little rubbish is left behind

Bella Warley, from the youth work group Campus Skateboarding, said: "It feels like gentrification.

"There's no money being made in that space; it's a space where no transaction has to happen for you to have a good time there.

"I take it quite personally," she added.

Vistry Group said the demolition will make way for ecological opportunities.

'Affordable homes'

A spokesperson said: "As part of the plans approved by Bristol City Council to redevelop this formerly industrial site, we are required to incorporate a new bat corridor that will support local ecology.

"To include this, our plans relocate an existing path by approximately five metres, allowing for the planting of new trees in an area where a skateboard ramp currently exists.

"Importantly, the Clanage Road site will provide 98 quality new affordable homes - more than required under local planning policy - whilst also helping to breathe new life into this industrial area of land."

Bristol City Council said: "As this is neither a council development nor on land owned by the council it is for the developers to determine how this site is used."