News

Plans to replace skate park and develop pump track set for approval

28 Aug 2026 4 minute read

An existing ramp at Pontypool skate park in Pontypool Park – Image: Torfaen County Borough Council

Twm Owen – Local democracy reporter

Plans to replace an “outdated” skate park plagued by maintenance problems and vandalism are set for approval.

Up to £600,000 could be made available to overhaul the existing skate park in Pontypool Park and create a new ‘pump track’ at another, yet to be decided, location in Torfaen.

A petition, with 329 signatures including 130 Torfaen residents, was presented to the borough council in July calling for it to “halt” plans to rebuild the existing skate park and divert funding to a “modern, all-wheeled, tarmac pump track ” elsewhere in Pontypool Park.

A report has now recommended the council replace the timber and steel ramps that form the existing Pontypool skate park with a new concrete freeform skate park and also put in place plans for a pump track elsewhere in Torfaen.

A pump track is a small circuit of smooth bumps and banked corners that bike riders loop around without pedalling, and build speed by moving up and down over the bumps with the technique known as ‘pumping’.

The council will however keep the skate park in its existing location in Pontypool Park, near the children’s play park and close to the leisure centre.

Three alternative locations, identified by a specialist skate park design company as part of a 2024 feasibility study, were discounted following informal talks with the council’s planning department and Welsh heritage body Cadw, due to the park’s heritage status, as the current site is “considered less likely to be subject to objections”.

A concreate skate park has been in place at Llanyrafon in Cwmbran since 2015 and the report said it is “popular and well used” with low maintenance requirements.

Despite concrete having a higher carbon impact than other materials it is the preferred option due to it being “significantly more durable” as well as “more resistant to vandalism and weather-related deterioration”.

The report said the skate park has suffered frequent damage from vandalism and the weather and was closed for long periods including during Easter and summer 2025.

Users have also said the ramps don’t meet the needs of either novice or experienced skaters and the report stated: “The existing skate park in Pontypool Park is outdated, poorly designed for different user abilities and wheeled sports, and constructed from materials that are unsuitable for long-term outdoor use.”

The council will use £180,000 paid under a Section 106 legal agreement for community benefits from the redevelopment of the former Trevethin Comprehensive School site and a further £420,000 from its own community fund.

The budget includes an “appropriate level of contingency” and may be refined as the project progresses while ongoing maintenance and repair costs of the proposed facility are expected to be significantly lower.

The report states a new skate park will also support the council’s aim of attracting visitors: “The proposal for the replacement skate park is to create a new, modern facility that will cater for all ages and abilities, support a range of wheeled sports, improve links to the adjacent play area, and provide a high-quality, free-to-use attraction.”

Council officers will also look for a suitable location for a pump track to be identified in consultation with local communities. Once a preferred site, at a separate location, has been identified and the necessary feasibility work undertaken, detailed proposals will be developed and progressed as phase two of the project.

Torfaen had run a consultation between May and June this year asking about use of its existing skate parks, what facilities users want, barriers to participation and priorities for future investment.

The council received 124 responses which it said demonstrated “demand for improved skate park provision in Pontypool, as well as for a pump track” and more than 65 per cent of respondents identified themselves as either regular or occasional skate park users.

A further 24 per cent were parents or carers of skate park users. More than half of respondents lived within Pontypool, with most of the remainder living elsewhere within Torfaen.

The report will be presented to council leader Anthony Hunt on Thursday, September 3 and is expected to be approved.

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