Skaters cheer for new park at Curly

The skaters of North Curl Curl are enjoying their long-awaited and much longed-for skate park, after fences came down today.

“We really needed a skatepark here for a really long time,” says 16-year-old Louis Wiart. “It’s great we finally got one.”

Right on the corner of Griffin and Abbott Roads, just across from the beach, the new park and landscaped surrounds are the first part of a larger plan to turn this unused pocket into a lively and active space for children, young people and anyone who wants to skate, scoot or even unicycle.

11-year-old, world-ranked skateboarder, Ruby Trew, lives up the road from the new park and will use various elements to work on her style and tricks.

“I like the humps because it’s really fun to go over and you can ollie over them,” she said after being one of the lucky skaters to get a sneak peek on Wednesday.

The skate park was a community-inspired project, many years in the making. After a local teacher noticed that children from his school didn’t have a dedicated place to ride their skateboards and scooters locally, he involved students, petitioned Council, started a Facebook page and gathered local support.

A Project Working group of 16 people, including skate industry professionals, local residents, youth skaters, members of the Unicycle club and Council staff was assembled to work through the process of design. Their combined passion and knowledge as well as their ability to work collaboratively enabled them to understand the site and budget constraints, which greatly assisted Council in developing a unified and insightful brief for the Skate park contractor to work to.

The outcome is a skate park that includes some elements not seen in other parks on the Beaches, and an accessible park that younger and less experienced riders can use to build up their confidence and skills.

And there’s plenty to keep the skate-heads interested too, with tricky individual elements that will help refine technical skills.

The park was constructed from May through July with a budget of $249,000. It sits neatly in a great community hub including the community nursery, community garden and a well-used community centre. Future stages of works will include an amenities block, outdoor furniture, upgrades to the car park, more native plantings and gardens and paths through the area for easy and accessible connections.