Urban skate park opens in Northampton

The skate park is free for all to use and will be flood-lit from September

A £250,000 state-of-the-art skate park has been opened in Northamptonshire.

Northampton Radlands Plaza has been built for skateboarders, roller bladers and stunt scooters at Midsummer Meadow.

A plaza skate park, which is free to use, mimics what an urban city centre plaza would look like with stairs, banks and rails.

The project, funded by Northampton Borough Council, was opened by councillor Tim Hadland, who was pleased so many young people were involved.

He said: "It has been wonderful to see so many people getting involved and the end result looks fantastic.

"I am pleased that we now have a place for young people to enjoy action sports without having to worry about traffic or pedestrians."

Kevin Charles, chair of Northampton Action Skate Group, said: "A lot of work has been put into it. The design is reflective of all the consultations that we had."

Mr Charles said the last major skate park in Northampton was in 1992 when Radlands was built. It closed in 2004 despite a borough council campaign to keep it open.

The park has had support from world-class skateboarder Tony Hawk and the MP for Northampton North, Michael Ellis.