• Hangleton & Knoll Councillors will propose Budget expenditure to kick-start a new skate park facility at Knoll Park
• Facility would tie in with the outreach work of Hangleton & Knoll project, which operates a café in the park.
• Conservative amendment will seek City Budget agreement for £20,000 for the project in 2022/3.

 

Hangleton & Knoll Councillors Dawn Barnett and Nick Lewry will request funding to kick start a new skate park facility at Knoll Park at the City Budget meeting.

 

Under the plan, which will be put forward by the Conservatives on Thursday night, the new Skate Park facility would also tie in with the outreach work of the Hangleton & Knoll Project, a Community Development charity which operates a café at Knoll Park during the summer months.

 

The Councillors will propose that £20,000 is allocated to the project in the 2022/3 financial year, which could be located on one of the underutilised middle sections of the park close to the Hangleton & Knoll Project café.

 

Knoll Park, which includes the Knoll Recreation Ground, is the main green space for Knoll estate in Hove.  It is well-used but is currently tired and in need of investment, with not enough facilities for young people.

 

Hangleton & Knoll Councillor Dawn Barnett said that the community wanted there to be a facility that gave young people something to do.

 

“With many children now living in flats, local parks are becoming more important, and we need to make sure they have the facilities that young people can use” Cllr Barnett said.

 

“At the moment young people walk straight in and straight out of Knoll Park because there is little to do.

 

“Residents would like to see the teenagers having something to do instead of hanging round in groups, strolling round the estate.  It would give them an interest and somewhere positive to go – to take their skateboards, bikes and go to the park.

“Through our work at the last budget we secured some new bigger capacity bins for Knoll Park that have now been installed.

 

“We would like to see this as the starting point for more investment year on year in this community space going forward.

 

“The park has been left alone for too long but with a bit of new investment could be brought up to standard” Cllr Barnett added.

 

Hangleton & Knoll Councillor Nick Lewry said that a new skate park would tie in with the Hangleton & Knoll Project, which runs a café in Knoll Park, to make a big difference to young people.

 

“Knoll Park is a great space and is much loved by the local community but is looking tired and is in need of some investment. It is used by dog walkers and people from Mill View Hospital go up for a coffee and a walk.  If we can make it more accessible to our young people then it will make a difference.

 

“We work closely with the Hangleton & Knoll project who do some great outreach work with our young people in the ward.

 

“The Project run a café at Knoll Park, which they open up during the summer months and a new skate park element providing activities for young people could dovetail with their local work.

 

“I hope that all Councillors will support this proposal on Budget Night which could make a real difference for Knoll” Cllr Lewry added.

 

Conservative Finance Spokesperson Joe Miller said that he would be introducing an amendment targeted at directing more funding at local parks.

 

“Since the pandemic, residents have been using and relying on their local parks more and more and as a Council we need to recognise that and provide additional resources” Cllr Miller said.

 

“By deferring spending on expensive carbon visions, we can make a real difference to our communities here and now, by upgrading our local parks” he said.

 

Conservative Group Amendment 2

 

• Provide £0.110m capital resources funded through £0.009m financing costs to provide: -
  • £0.020m for better boundary protection for Patcham Place Park
  • £0.020m for playground equipment in Horsdean Recreational Ground
  • £0.020m for Skating facilities at Knoll Park
  • £0.050m to provide a road crossing at Bexhill Road park

 

The above proposals require £0.100m recurrent revenue resources and this will be funded by replacing the £0.100m recurrent funding allocation for investment to support planning reforms shown in table 2 on page 20 with £0.100m one off resources only. The one off resources will be funded by deferring £1.250m capital investment of the proposed 2022/23 allocation to the Carbon Neutral 2030 fund until 2023/24 which releases £0.100m one off funding from the financing costs budget. 

 

ENDS.