SUMMARY:

• Finsbury Park needs a new skate park: it's too small and lacks a space for all skate / wheels users. This is not wheel chair accessible currently, and at times, can be intimidating for beginners given the massive demand for the sport.
• Proposal: we want to create a new skate plaza, open to all, that encourages new users to get involved and challenges existing users. We've set out some designs for brilliant new space, that is accessible, challenging, and provides a format for new users. It will cover bowls and street skating, and provide a space for scooters, bladers, and bikers! This will be a unique spot with nothing else like it nearby.
• Social objective: we think this will become an iconic North London spot for people to be. There are many benefits for physical and mental health and for connecting people and giving them a community to belong to. The job opportunities will also explode in this growing sector. Help us be successful! 
• What will we do with the money: we've estimated how much this will cost based on other projects near by. Depending on how much raised, we will undertake design work and planning in partnership with Haringey Council, who will manage and maintain in the future. You can see a conceptual design here (link).
• Partnership: we have permission & support from Haringey Council to undertake this project. We are looking at other local partners, or, skate / bike entities that would like to support our objectives. 

WELCOME!

You've reached the Crowd Funder campaign to build a new Finsbury Park Skate Plaza. 

Background 

We are the Friends of Finsbury Park, a charity that seeks to improve and protect the park. We have been working in this capacity for over 30 years alongside Haringey Council. 

Finsbury Park is located on the border of Islington, Hackney and Haringey. It is a diverse community with a broad range of park users - young and old, rich and poor, from lots of different ethnic backgrounds.

Skate Park

We are expanding the existing skate park to create a Street Skating Plaza that will be accessible to Skateboards, Scooters, Roller-skaters, BMX’s and Wheelchairs. Currently the skate park is two small bowls that are over 20 years old. The skate plaza will flow from the existing bowls onto a 1000m2 area of tarmac next to the bowls. We have permission from Haringey council to expand the park and will work with them to fund. Haringey will manage the build and maintain the skate park. We are funding this in two phases. Phase one will be the polished concrete surface and phase two will be the ramps, rails, skateable objects and seating areas with planting. We will do the build in one go to make it cost effective.

What does it look like today? 

The park is in Haringey and on the corner of both Islington and Hackney so it services a very large and diverse community and the current park is too small to accommodate everyone who does and wants to use it. Skateboarding is a sport that appeals to a diverse audience. Young, old, male and females from all backgrounds can and do take part in this community driven activity. Its appeal is growing and will be an Olympic sport in 2021 for the first time.

Beginners need more space to learn basic skills before they can confidently commit to the bowls and more advanced boarders need room to express themselves and progress. Scooters are predominantly used by a younger audience and need more space to be safe and grow their confidence.

Roller-skating has had a massive resurgence over the last few years and even more so over Covid-19. Keeping the roller skaters safe and with room to move will be mush easier with the extra plaza space.  BMXers need way more space to practice tricks and stay safe and encourage beginners to the sport.

The bowls are currently not wheelchair accessible so a bigger street style plaza would open up the skate park to those with mobility issues. Young people have been profoundly affected by COVID 19 and its restrictions and now need support to be outside in a safe environment so they can get active and look after their physical and mental health while being connected to a community.

Creating the space they need in our parks and communities is vital for the whole community. 

The future

We will offer regular free starter skate lessons to encourage new members to join this sport. In a post COVID world where the young have been profoundly effected both mentally and physically this safe out doors sport is so important to fund. We will hold competitions and events for the Plaza users. 

Partners

We're working closely with Haringey Council (hold Finsbury Park in trust), SkateboardGB, Sport England and British Cycling. See this link for supporting documents, and our high level costings (link).

We also want to say thank you to Betong Park Designs for their help conceiving a design, and many others who have helped along the way!

We'd love to hear from others though who are local or have a background in the sport. 

Thanks!

The Friends of Finsbury Park.

If you would prefer to donate via another means, you can use PAYPAL OR CAF payments directly on our charity website here (Link).