ACT government rejects calls to upgrade Tuggeranong skatepark

"We used to have a reputation for provisioning great skate parks and smaller neighbourhood facilities would fill in the gaps," he said.

Mr Wood, the head of the ACT Skateboarding Association, pointed to some of Canberra's older skateparks like Kambah U-Pipe and Charnwood Bowl as being iconic in the skateboarding community, but he said their reputation had waned in the last decade.

He said the ACT government had neglected Canberra's skateboarding centres and this was particularly evident at the Tuggeranong and Gungahlin skateparks.

"We've had no new skateparks in Canberra for over a decade and an omission of skate elements is evident in all new play spaces," Mr Wood said.

Without annual maintenance of skatepark surfaces, bowls and ramps, they become unsafe for skaters.

"Right around the 20- to 25 year-old mark, it reaches a tipping point and Tuggeranong is at that stage where it's not really functional for skateboarders anymore," Mr Wood said.

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After 10 years of advocating for new skateparks and better maintenance, Mr Wood took the fight to the Legislative Assembly. He started a petition for better skatepark facilities in the territory.

Following this, the Assembly's education and community inclusion committee launched an inquiry into skateboarding and skateparks in the ACT.

They are starting a wide-ranging review into skatepark infrastructure in the ACT.

Deputy chair of the committee, Greens member for Brindabella Johnathan Davis, sponsored a petition to the assembly calling for a new skatepark in Tuggeranong.

"The government responded to that petition and unfortunately they've made it very clear they have no plans to upgrade the skatepark," Mr Davis said

ACT Minister for Sport and Recreation Yvette Berry said the government was investing in Tuggeranong by delivering play space upgrades in Gordon and Chisholm but at this stage there were no plans to construct a new skate park in the south.

Canberra teen prodigy Katie Pike picked up a skateboard three years ago.

Having travelled overseas for competitions and trained in Sydney and Melbourne she felt Canberra had fallen behind, its parks not of competition standard.

"I've been to a couple of parks around Australia and you can clearly see that Canberra needs an upgrade. It's hard to train, they don't have the right facilities," she said.

"We have to travel to actually train."

Katie travels to Sydney on the weekends to train for her upcoming competitions.

Katie wants to see the bowls repaired and new obstacles for novice skaters to train and learn to skate on.

"You can tell a lot of the kids here are just doing it for fun, whereas if I go to Sydney all the kids want to improve and compete," she said.

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