We took a trip over to a small village in Buckinghamshire yesterday for our last possible chance to skate a fun little plaza…

Bullshit politics and the NIMBY* nation are one of the biggest problems facing skateparks. It’s hard enough for skateboarders to find somewhere decent to skate as it is, so when a group finally gets a half decent park to skate, it’s both heart breaking and frustrating to have someone stand in the way of you actually riding the place. This is pretty much the issue over in Broughton Gate, near Milton Keynes, where a little plaza got built by the local council. It wasn’t perfect, but it offered some interesting street obstacles, and the locals (even the ones on scooters) were totally awesome youngsters who were polite and just enjoyed what they do. Good kids, who need and deserve a rad place to ride – but a local neighbour of the skatepark has pretty much single handedly convinced the local authorities to tear the place down because it’s apparently “too noisy”, and attracts “anti-social behaviour”. 

Because of this, it’s been decided that the needs of the few outweigh the needs of the many – the local kids, and their parents who enjoyed watching them use the facility, now have to suffer because a handful of people don’t like the idea of a skatepark. It’s a sad state of affairs, and a constant reminder of the battle we, as skateboarders, have to endure against the small-minded idiots who lump us in with the ASBO crowd.

As such, remember as you watch this video – this place doesn’t exist anymore, and was only open for about a year. Is it really worth wasting tax payer’s money to demolish something that brings so much enjoyment to people of all ages?

*NIMBY = “Not in my back yard”