A PUBLIC gathering has been arranged at a skatepark in Llandudno Junction amid efforts to replace it with a new and improved site.

Cllr Dave Jones, who represents the Glyn y Marl ward on Conwy County Borough Council, has helped form the “Victoria Skatepark Project” community group, of which he is secretary.

The gathering will take place at the village’s skatepark, which is near the Lidl supermarket, on May 4 at 6pm.

It follows Cllr Jones having set up an online donations page last September in a bid to raise funds to put towards a new skatepark.

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He said: “We’re asking skaters, scooter and BMX riders, and rollerbladers in and around Llandudno Junction to gather at the skatepark, and show their support for our proposed new skatepark in Victoria Park.

“I’ll be handing out some leaflets and questionnaires, asking people what they want in the skatepark, in terms of the sort of equipment that they want the skatepark to contain.

“We’re running a competition among the members of the group, and anyone else who wants to enter it, for people to give the new skatepark a name.

“We want to make sure that the community takes charge of the skatepark. We want everything within it to be a request from the skating community.”

Cllr Jones said he has the support of both of his fellow Glyn y Marl ward councillors, Cllrs Mike Priestley and Sue Shotter, for the project.

He said it is possible that an application to the council’s planning department may not be necessary, given there is no proposal for a change of use for the site.

The group he has helped form has also agreed on a signed constitution and has begun a social media presence.

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“We had a Teams meeting on Thursday evening with my fellow Glyn y Marl ward county councillors and two council officers most likely to be dealing with the project, and there’s full support from them.

“No application has gone into planning yet, but because we’re proposing an improvement to an existing skate park, rather than a change of use, it might not need to go to planning.

“There has been contact with three companies (to potentially create the new skatepark), and one has shown interest.

“Because of where it is and what it’s going to cover, it’s going to be quite a bespoke kind of project.

“This company has come back with a figure of about £175,000 for the project. It’ll be a concrete structure; there’ll be no steel showing.

“As a multi member ward, we three councillors pledged to work together to benefit the ward and the residents of Glyn y Marl, this is a large project that we are working on as well as others within the ward.”