A long-running campaign to create a skateboard park in Addingham has taken a step closer to success.

Village councillors met this week with building contractors on the site of the proposed scheme, the Memorial Park below the football pitch, to discuss resurfacing costs.

The move represents real progress in the bid to create a park which was first proposed during the initial skateboarding craze in the early 1980s.

Addingham Parish Council chairman Gordon Campbell said the meeting was productive but warned that the creation of a 10 by 30 metre surfaced area may cost more than the £3,900 which had been quoted

earlier.

He said: "We have had a meeting on site with the contractor and he is going to give us a price which we can then have a look at. It's going to be a little bit more than we originally thought because we need to create a pathway to it and back."

Once the park area has been built Addingham Skatepark Association, which has already raised more than £3,300, hopes to equip it with state-of-the-art equipment.

This would include two grinding rails, a pair of grinding benches, a mid box with rail, a 5ft high, 12ft wide flat bank with a handrail and an 8ft wide, 5ft high quarter pipe.

The push for a skatepark is being backed both by the skaters themselves and by residents who want them to enjoy their sport in safety without damaging village property.

Addingham skaters at the moment have to travel to Otley, Leeds or Sheffield to use proper parks.