General News
30 May, 2024
New Skatepark Plans
Nyngan skaters will soon be air-walking and alley-ooping on a brand new park, with Victorian company Convic expected to start construction in around eight weeks.
The company revealed the design for the new Nyngan skatepark last week and has now asked for community input before it is finalised.
Angus Thomas from Convic unfurled the designs at the Bogan Shire Youth and Community Centre last Thursday and discussed them with teenagers at a drop-in session.
There is also an online survey posted on the Bogan Shire Council website for community members to have their say.
The new design incorporates the footprint of the existing Nyngan skate park in O’Reilly Park but will ultimately be more than double the size.
Mr Thomas said the cement slab was about the only part that would be retained in the new design and that the existing steel ramps would be removed.
“We have planned to paint a blue design over the concrete, which will give the illusion of water and coolness,” he said.
There will be a garden bed in the centre of the skatepark, which will provide a safety barrier around a central shade sail pole.
Mr Thomas said Convic had designed and constructed around 800 skateparks in Australia.
“We are a specialist company and have built skateparks for hundreds of communities and try as much as possible to use their suggestions in the design.”
He said it would take around two months to build the Nyngan park – depending on the weather – which would mean it will be completed before the summer holidays and Christmas.
Bogan Shire Council initially received $400,000 from the NSW Government Resources for Regions program to build the skate park and commissioned a company to undertake community consultation in 2022 to create a design to match the funding available.
When it became apparent that $400,000 was not enough to build the desired park, Council agreed at its August 2023 meeting to allocate another $200,000 from its allocation of Local Roads and Community Infrastructure funding – bringing the total to $600,000.
In September 2023, when no tenders had been received for the project, Council approached companies that had expressed interest in discussing a redesign.
Convic was ultimately awarded the contract and has developed a design to meet the available budget.
It includes quarter pipes of varying sizes, a wall, a spine, three A-frames, two moguls, a bank hip, a flat bar, a flat ledge, a rainbow rail, and a curved rail.
The plan also includes a shade cover and new spectator seating.