Many thanks to everyone who responded to the on-line consultation about the BMX Track.

Of all the replies received, only 28% had serious reservations, while 72% were in support of the project, which is very encouraging.

The main purpose of the consultation was to give residents a chance to raise their concerns about the proposal, so that we could incorporate these issues into our planning.  What follows is a brief review of the resulting exchange of ideas.

One of the first questions raised was whether there is a need for a BMX track/Skate Park on Paxcroft Mead, given that there are similar facilities elsewhere in Trowbridge.  It is quite correct that we will need to gather evidence of a demonstrable need in order to get the support of the council.  The consultation replies definitely got us off to a good start in this area:  a regular dog-walker reported seeing evidence of ramps made by local kids themselves, which is a clear sign of the need for a facility of this kind, and residents who currently take their children to use the BMX track at Studley Green said they were looking forward to using a local track and saving a trek across town.

Another concern was the question of insurance and public liability.  In fact, the council would adopt the track before it could be opened and they would then be responsible for upkeep and public safety in the same way that they have responsibility for children's playgrounds.

A major issue has been the potential impact of the BMX track on the field, both visually and in terms of the existing users. Several residents have pointed out that the field is used by Trowbridge Wanderers children's teams.  In fact, the track will occupy only a small fraction of the available space, tucked away in a corner, and we are confident that Trowbridge Wanderers will hardly notice any difference - but we will be contacting them to ensure that any impacts on their activities are minimised.

The consideration of visual impacts is fundamental to the planning process and we are working hard to demonstrate that this aspect will not be a significant issue; the outline proposal for the facility (which will be published on the website) will include an artist's impression.  We are also considering the interests of the prospective residents of the new housing springing up across the road from the proposed site.  The main concern here is surely privacy and we are confident that there is very little chance of this becoming a problem.

The over-riding concern in terms of emphasis was the issue of anti-social behaviour, particularly that the BMX track could exacerbate the problem by attracting undesirable visitors.  The local experts in this area are the Neighbourhood Police Team, who are fully behind the project and are confident that the positive benefits will outweigh any problems from passing troublemakers.

I have been doing some minor research of my own in this area, and it has to be acknowledged that BMX tracks and skate parks are associated with issues of anti-social behaviour.  But each story also comes with a chorus of ordinary people - kids, parents and interested adults - protesting that the the bad behaviour of outsiders should not result in local kids losing their facility.  In quite a few of the stories I found, the situation was redeemed by consulting the people who used the facility - the kids themselves.  BMX tracks and skate parks were revamped, incorporating the ideas of the kids who used them and so giving them a strong sense of ownership and shared community.  In this way, the kids were empowered to police themselves and repel invaders, and the situation improved for everyone.

This is a concept we have discussed in diverse meetings and our thoughts were echoed by several supporters of the project, who urged us to involve local kids as much as possible.  To this end, Adrian has made contact with a specialist company whose policy is to assist groups like ours in involving local kids in the design of BMX tracks and skate parks.  They do this regardless of whether they are eventually awarded the contract, which is a process the council will control, necessarily involving several different tenders.  With their help, we will be making every effort to ensure that the kids of Paxcroft Mead feel ownership of their BMX Park and therefore have a strong stake in keeping it a positive place.

This posting marks the end of this first stage in the saga.  We firmly believe that the BMX Track project will be a positive benefit to the whole community and we are heartened to find that many interested residents support it.  Thus far, we have focussed on concerns, and we will always do our utmost to ensure that negative impacts are kept to a minimum.

Now the time has come to move forward and concentrate our efforts on garnering practical support. The first visible sign of this long and complicated process will be a series of open meetings for local kids and interested adults - so watch this space, and if you have an interest in making this happen, please come along and get involved.