PLANS for a skateboarding park in Craven Arms are speeding ahead following a decision to target a site next to the town's Community Centre.

The idea of establishing the site on the Craven Arms Playing Fields has met with opposition from some residents who are concerned about noise and nuisance.

But it is being welcomed by those campaigning for more facilities for youngsters in Craven Arms in a safe place and is also good news for young people who have been waiting many months for progress on finding a site for skateboarding and other youth activities.

The decision by the Craven Arms Partnership, which includes South Shropshire District Council, follows the collating of a ballot of residents in Craven Arms and Wistanstow.

Fifty three per cent voted to establish the site on the Craven Arms Playing Fields, near to the Community Centre, 44 per cent for a site next to the A49 at Long Lane half a mile from the town and three per cent for no skateboarding park at all.

Council regeneration programmes manager Sam Hine said the partnership would now push ahead with trying to secure funding and meeting development and regulation requirements.

It was hoped the skateboarding park project would include a hard surface play area and a youth facility in the pavilion of the Community Centre.

Cllr Neville Stephens, partnership chair, said: "The partnership realises the skateboarding park is a contentious issue for some. There will still be opportunities for the community to have their say, through the planning process and the design and development of the facility.

"The partnership is committed to providing improved facilities for the young people of the area and believes Playing Fields site, adjacent to the Community Centre, is the safest and most secure option."