The following is the text of a presentation about Paxcroft Mead Action Park given at the Hilperton Parish Assembly in April and at the Paxcroft Mead Community Forum AGM in May. The text is an amalgamated version of both presentations, which differed slightly because of the requirements of the different occasions and because Josh couldn't come to the AGM.

Dan (12) and Josh (9) both live on Paxcroft Mead. They came to the latest coffee morning to find out about the Action Park proposal and so impressed us with their initiative and poise that we asked them to help us with our presentations. Their script is taken from their own contributions to a discussion we had after the coffee morning.

At the AGM, Dan took over most of Josh's lines, but I wanted to differentiate them in the web version, because they underline an important aim of the project, which is to provide a facility which younger kids can get to under their own steam. Older teenagers, who want a large scale park with tall ramps can take themselves into town and use the skate parks there, but younger teenagers and older children need a smaller scale skate park close to home.

Rosemary: At the open meeting we held to launch the Forum, one of the first comments to come from the floor was that there were no facilities for older children on Paxcroft Mead.

Dan: I like living on Paxcroft Mead. It's out in the countryside with lots of fresh air. It's a good environment for kids to grow up in, but there's not much for teenagers to do here.

Josh: When we were smaller, we used to go to the playground on the country park. But now if we go there we just sit on the swings and talk.

Most of the time, we go scooting around on the street. Sometimes people complain at us and we try and find somewhere to go, but there isn't anywhere.

Adrian Ingham had just moved onto Paxcroft Mead from Studley Green, where he had been instrumental in setting up the Studley Green BMX Track.

We welcomed him onto the committee and decided to go with the BMX track idea. As soon as we considered what the kids themselves would want, however, we realised that we would have to include some skate park elements.

So we have called the project Paxcroft Mead Action Park.

When I heard about the plans, I was really pleased. I'm only nine, so if I want to go to one of the skate parks in the town, my Mum or Dad has to take me.

Adrian began by working with a Wiltshire Council Planning Officer, roaming the country park to identify the most suitable potential site.

They chose the top corner of the cricket field, behind the community centre.

There are several reasons why this is a good choice. It lies above the flood plain, which is an important factor with today's planning laws. It is close to the District Centre, easy to access from all areas and convenient for the shops, yet it takes the kids away from the general concourse. It is already on the beat of the Neighbourhood Police Team.

The cricket field isn't used for much. Kids like us play football there and people walk their dogs.

I used to belong to Trowbridge Wanderers and they use the field.

But the Action Park wouldn't take up much room, right?

No, there would still be plenty of space left for the football team to use.

The field is called the cricket field because the community centre was originally conceived as a cricket pavilion, with changing rooms and showers as well as social facilities and a sports hall. As far as we know, no-one has ever used it for cricket.

The field is landscaped as a classic cricket bowl and we would take care to preserve that landscaping. We have only identified one tree which might have to be removed.

The Management Committee of the community centre are in favour of the proposal and the management of the nearby nursery has no objections.

It is a bit of a controversial issue though. There was a lady complaining about it at the coffee morning the other weekend. She said the Action Park would cause more anti-social behaviour.

The neighbourhood policeman stood up for us, though. He thinks it's a good idea.

We launched an on-line consultation about the BMX proposal at the first Forum Coffee Morning in October 2010, e-mailing the 180 individual Forum members. Although attendance at the coffee morning was encouraging, response to the consultation was low-key, with remarkably few people feeling the need to send in their comments. Most of the responses we did receive were in support of the project, with a 70/30 split in favour. Those members who expressed concerns were all worried that the Action Park would increase anti-social behaviour.

The plans for the Action Park have been one of the main subjects for discussion at both of the coffee mornings so far. On each occasion people have come in with concerns and nearly all of them have come away supporting the project.

P.C. Mark Hough, Beat Manager of the local Neighbourhood Police Team has looked at the crime statistics for areas in and around Trowbridge where they already have BMX tracks and skate parks. There were no more incidents of anti-social behaviour there than anywhere else.

The consultation for the last Trowbridge Community Area Plan conducted by TCAF-Trowbridge Community Area Futures - identified anti-social behaviour as the chief concern around crime. They set their aim to address this as providing more facilities for young people and their target as building a skate park. Far from seeing a skate park as something that would increase anti-social behaviour, they saw it as the most suitable response.

The Action Park would appeal to kids of all ages, and not just to kids like Dan and Josh who are into BMX and Skate boarding. It would also function as a venue where older teenagers can meet their friends and hang out together without getting in people's way and being moved on. There would be a covered shelter, as well as benches and litter bins.

The best way of ensuring that problems are kept to a minimum is to engage the local kids in the planning process, so that they feel ownership and pride in the facility when it is opened.

We started a couple of weeks ago by sending out an invitation for local kids to come and get involved at the latest Forum coffee morning.

There was a display about the plans for the Action Park and people were having discussions about it.

We all signed the petition to show we wanted an Action Park on Paxcroft Mead and there was a mini version for the kids to collect names and addresses.

I expected some of the kids to take them away with them at the end of the morning, but they organised themselves there and then and scooted off to collect names.

We went off to collect the names and addresses in groups. We went round the local shops first and they all signed up. We even got the postman to sign.

We went round some of the houses where we live in the afternoon.

By the time they'd all got back to the coffee morning, Dan the rep from the specialist BMX and Skate Park company had arrived and he got talking with the kids about what they really wanted.

We thought a skate park would be the best option, because it can be used for so many things, not just skate boards, but scooters, roller blades and BMX bikes as well.

The plans showed one or two skate ramps in metal and ply wood, but we thought these were too high for the younger kids to use. What we really want is smaller jumps and ramps, like the ones we try to make for ourselves.

Dan the rep showed us a photograph of a street park, which looked much more like it.

The street park is made of pre-cast concrete units, with runs and ramps of all shapes and sizes to provide an ideal version of the street landscape. It would not need concrete foundations. They would simply dig out the footprint of the park to the required depth and winch the pre-constituted pieces of the park into place.

So that's the proposal to date. The next stage is to consult with the specialist company and prepare to apply for planning permission, while beginning the fund-raising campaign with a fun community event.

We are really heartened by the enthusiasm of the local kids, embodied in this presentation by Dan and Josh. We are confident that the Paxcroft Action Park will be of real value to the local community and we want to get started on making it happen.

Paxcroft Mead Community Forum is proposing to build a BMX track for older kids on the edge of the park. This project is not something that will happen over night; we are still in the early stages of planning and identifying possible funding.

There was a short presentation at the Forum AGM in May 2010 and legitimate concerns were raised by some of the members in attendance. Later that year we held a web-based consultation to give people a chance to register their concerns or support for the project. The overall response was 70/30% in favour of the project and on that basis we decided to proceed. To view the BMX Frequently Asked Questions, please click here.

There is no doubt that the project will continue to be a controversial issue. The over-riding concern expressed by those residents not in favour was that a BMX track would exacerbate the problem of anti-social behaviour by attracting more kids onto the estate.

The Forum committee takes these concerns seriously. The Beat Team Leader of the local Neighbourhood Police Team has contributed to all our meetings. He says that local crime statistics show no evidence that similar facilities in the Trowbridge area have led to an increase in anti-social behaviour.

We have done our own research and will be following the advice of specialist firms and council youth officers who advocate involving the kids themselves from an early stage. This way they feel pride in the park and want to keep it in good order.

We are still keen to receive your comments about the proposal via the website and at the Forum AGM and coffee mornings. We always publish the details of our committee meetings and Forum members are always welcome to come and talk there.

The next stage will be to prepare an application for planning permission. We will need to demonstrate a good level of support from the local community, so we have started a petition. Small bands of local kids have already been scooting around the estate gathering names and addresses on their mini-petitions.

We have designed an Information Pack to help explain the project and this can be downloaded - along with a mini-petition. Click here to go the page entitled “I want a BMX/Skate Park on Paxcroft Mead”, which was inspired by a Facebook page set up by the kids themselves, and download a petition kit.

You may have noticed the slippage in this article between “BMX track”, and “BMX/Skate Park”. As soon as we started to talk to the kids themselves, we found that they really tend to want a skate park. We want to keep our options open, but the kids will have a big say in the final proposal.