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The Canberra Times
The Canberra Times
William Stanley

Committee pushes for ACT to become skateboarding hotspot

Canberra has a rich history of skating culture - it was one of the first cities in the country to build a skate park.

But enthusiasts say the capital's skate parks have been neglected and left behind. An inquiry has urged the ACT government to invest in new skating infrastructure and initiatives.

The Legislative Assembly's standing committee on education and community inclusion has made 33 recommendations to improve skate parks in the ACT.

The committee wants Canberra to be promoted as a skateboarding hotspot of Australia.

The chair of the committee, Michael Pettersson, hopes the recommendations will help grow the Canberra skating community.

"The committee made a number of recommendations, all with the overarching theme of supporting skateboarding and skate culture here in the ACT," Mr Pettersson said.

The inquiry was warmly received by the vice president of the Canberra Skateboarding Association Brenden "Woody" Wood.

Canberra Skateboarding Association vice president Brenden "Woody" Wood. Picture by Picture by Keegan Carroll

"We feel like we were really listened to. All of the recommendations sound fantastic, we think it is very promising," Mr Wood said.

One of the main talking points was the regular maintenance and improvement of skate parks.

This has been an ongoing issue in Canberra, with some repairs being undertaken by contractors that don't have skate park experience.

The Canberra Skating Association would like to see a strategy introduced to effectively maintain skate parks.

"It makes all the difference. Skate parks are a specialised kind of facility, you need specialist knowledge to maintain and repair them," Mr Wood said.

"It's important that it happens."

The association also recommends that the government continues to support the world-renowned Belco Bowl Jam.

The introduction of new infrastructure is a step in the right direction for new tourism initiatives.

"If we had new skate parks or more facilities in public spaces, things like that will help the momentum we have already got with these events [like Belco Bowl Jam]," he said.

Skate parks are multi-use areas that are used by BMX riders, rollerbladers and scooters.

This was acknowledged by the committee with their recommendation that skating elements are integrated when building new infrastructure, like playgrounds.

The committee hopes this plan promotes the sport and encourages public engagement, creating new multi-use public spaces.

This is something that used to be common in the 1990s and 2000s.

Mr Wood hopes to see it happen again.

"In the last 10-15 years a whole heap of new play spaces have been built with no skate elements whatsoever," Mr Wood said.

"We have advocated for this, skate elements appeal to a much larger demographic than a regular playground. You will have small children all the way to adults that will use these spaces."

Mr Pettersson wants the Canberra skating community to know that they haven't been forgotten.

"Canberra has a tremendous skateboard community, I think its really important the ACT government does everything in its power to support all elements of the community," he said.

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