CHILDREN and young people in Carterton had the opportunity to offer their ideas on the best way to bring the town’s skate park into the 21st century.

The town council invited youngsters to a consultation event on Monday evening, where they were able to speak with three companies who hope to take on the contract to revamp the Upavon Way facility.

The skate park has been a staple of Carterton for the past 20 years, and the council hopes bringing it up to scratch will see it grow further in popularity.

Mayor of Carterton Lynn Little said: “We want to make the skate park safe and up to date for young people to enjoy in the future.

“We had young people come in and talk to the companies because they’re the ones who are going to be using it.

"We’re not experts, so having them engage with these companies is the best way to ensure they get the right kind of equipment.

“It's been great engaging with young people and seeing them take time out to give their thoughts. It was such a useful exercise and one we will likely repeat in future.”

The skate park currently includes a half pipe, quarter pipe, grind rails and other apparatus to be used with skateboards and bikes.

Mrs Little estimates that the total cost of improving the facility would be in the region of £70,000.

The three companies at Monday’s meeting – Canvas, Bendcrete and Freestyle – will now develop their plans based the consultation and submit them back to the council, where the final decision on the contract will be made.

This is the second consultation event held by the council. An earlier meeting on the new design of the skate park was held in May.

The town council was forced to put a stop to rumours the skate park was set for closure in April after a Facebook group, Save Carterton Skate Park, was created by a resident.

The page attracted support from nearly 500 people, and made many people believe the park would be dismantled with no future plans to re-build it but this is not the case.