HOPES of securing a skate park for South Lakeland have been dealt a £60,000 cash boost, reports Ellis Butcher.

The money has been set aside by South Lakeland District Council's Cabinet but if the idea is to be progressed it will need financial support from local businesses. Cabinet members heard there would be no early guarantee that the skate park would be built in Kendal.

During the discussion, councillors agreed to change the project's working title' from "Kendal skate park" to simply "skate park" so as to be non-specific about any future location.

The move came after councillors had expressed concern that the £60,000 would come from a £856,000 pot of cash they understood had been strictly earmarked for spending on "rural services."

The £856,000 cash jackpot was the result of the Government's decision to force second homeowners to pay a higher proportion of their council tax bill.

Coun Brenda Woof said: "There are very few second homes in Kendal but there are in rural areas. Not everybody who wants to skateboard can come to Kendal."

Coun Kevin Lancaster said the concept of a Kendal skate park fitted in with council goals and the £60,000 would help to ensure there was a "well thought-out" scheme which addressed fears about the impact a skate park could have wherever it was built. "We have a leisure centre in Kendal for the use of South Lakeland. We have historically provided services of this nature in South Lakeland - if we can find an appropriate site in Kendal," he said. "I don't care if you have it in Kendal or not, but I can't honestly see a scheme like this being built at the top end of Dent."

Coun Andy Shine said he could not support the money from the second homes pot being spent on the scheme. But he added: "There's nothing I would like to see more than a skatepark my God, it would make my life a lot easier!"

During the debate, acting chief executive Mike Jones reminded members that the skate park recommendation had been suggested by a sub-group committee and still had to go before the multi-agency Local Strategic Partnership before returning to the full council for a final decision.

Council spokeswoman Sheila Meades confirmed after the meeting that it would be up to the Local Strategic Partnership to consider any future location and the council would then discuss the matter.

l HAWES is to get a skate park. Yorkshire Dales Park Authority planners granted permission for the park after Hawes and Abbotside Parish Council applied to build the skate park on part of the Community Fields, Hardraw Road, Hawes.