Councillor's skatepark guarantee

District and Parish Councillor Anne Hawkesworth has put her reputation on the line by declaring a personal guarantee that the project will be completed this year.

Coun Hawkesworth is also one of the prime movers behind Ilkley's Summer Festival which begins in August this year.

"It is my aim that Ilkley skateboarders will be using that park during the festival," said Coun Hawkesworth.

She told the Gazette that companies had already been invited to tender to carry out the work. Once bids have been submitted the contractor will be chosen.

Coun Hawkesworth gave the guarantee in a response to criticism that City Hall had been stingy in its support of the project.

At a meeting this week parish councillors voted to spend £15,000 supporting Pipedream. They then criticised a similar donation from Bradford Council.

Councillor Michael Lynes said that the money Bradford had promised came from a 'commuted sum' paid over by the developer of the Ilkley College site, and not from council coffers.

The developers, Crest Homes then Miller Homes, had to pay the money for recreation purposes as a condition of being granted planning permission. As well as the £15,000 Bradford Council has also promised £5,000 worth of preliminary work on the site at New Brook Street.

Parish Councillor Michael Lynes urged Bradford Council to put more cash from its own budget into the project.

"Them just giving money from a commuted sum is not showing much interest at all," said Coun Lynes.

Parish Council chairman Michael Gibbons said: "It is about time we got this project sorted and we got the skatepark. Maybe some of the vandalism we see is going to be slightly reduced by having these youngsters down on the skatepark."

Parish councillors also expressed concern that because of a lack of funding, the skatepark might not be built for years.

But Coun Hawkesworth defended Bradford's record saying that commuted sum funds also had to finance improvements to the youngsters play park in the Riverside Gardens as well as provide recreation facilities for older youngsters.

But without mentioning figures, she promised that Bradford would make sure the skate park was built this summer.

She said: "Pipedream will go ahead this summer - I don't know how many times I have to say that."

The project is jointly funded by the parish council, Bradford Council and Pipedream's own fundraising efforts.

Over the last week money has once again come flooding in for the campaign. Among the donations received was a £100 cheque from Clive Orgles, of Beverley Rise, Ilkley. He said: "My 13-year-old son is keen on skateboarding and I would not like to see him making a nuisance of himself in Ilkley town or inappropriate park areas, and thus I am very keen for a skate park to be created in

Ilkley.

"At present I have to take him to skate parks in Skipton and Otley. There is even a skate park in the small village of Pool in Wharfedale, but Ilkley, a very wealthy town in comparison, cannot achieve this. I certainly hope our park will be completed this summer."

A live show at the Crescent Hotel in Ilkley by local rock band Dissent last Friday, meanwhile, is expected to have boosted the project to the tune of £500.

Pipedream Committee member John Daure said: "Thank you to everyone who attended what was a great night and for assisting the skate park project. A special thank you to the band for contributing their talents and without whom there would not have been a fund-raising concert."

Pipedream is going all out to get the £55,000 or so needed to create a custom built park at a riverside spot next to Ilkley Rugby Club, in New Brook Street, in time for the school summer holidays.

It has now received around £11,000 in donations and pledges from local businesses and individuals.

That, bolstered by the two £15,000 donations from Bradford Council and Ilkley Parish Council, and an expected £5,000 from the charity's Easter Raffle Prize Draw, will take

its running total up to the £46,000 mark.