Darlington skatepark to get North East’s first ‘resi quarter ramp’ after fundraising campaign hits target

Young skateboarders, scooter riders and BMX bikers will soon be trying out new tricks on the North East’s first ‘resi quarter ramp’ after a fundraising campaign hit its £13,000 target.

The 4Motion indoor skatepark on the Faverdale Industrial Estate in Darlington has been raising the money required to install the new facility, which is a specialised training ramp featuring a wooden take-off and a landing surface made of thick foam layers and topped with a rubber mat.

The ramp, which also features a 12ft drop into a quarter pipe, provides a more forgiving landing area than a standard ramp and will enable users to try out more complicated and ambitious tricks with a reduced risk of hurting themselves as they perfect their new moves.

A £2,000 grant from the Banks Group’s Banks Community Fund has taken 4Motion past its target, with work now set to begin on installing and preparing the new ramp, which it is aiming to open by the end of June.

The 4Motion team is hoping it will help encourage more young skaters and riders who might be aiming to get to the top level of their sports to stay and train in the North East, and to follow the likes of Gateshead-born BMX rider Kieran Reilly and skateboarder Sky Brown onto international success.

The venue opened in 2014 after a two-year community drive led by youth worker Nigel Potter to create a dedicated indoor skatepark for Darlington and shares its facilities with Darlington Gymnastics Club.

It already welcomes more than 20,000 visitors every year and offers dedicated sessions for toddlers, younger riders and girls only, as well as dedicated and open sessions for BMX, skateboarding, scooters, and inline skating.

The venue also runs coaching programmes and carries out school and community group outreach sessions to make 4Motion as inclusive a venue as possible.

Chief operating officer Olly Graham says: “A resi quarter ramp acts as a bridge between a foam pit and a hard wood landing, and allows riders to safely learn new tricks while being able to ride away when they land.

“As anyone who watched the Paris Olympics will have seen, the level of tricks that BMX riders and skateboarders are executing is getting higher and higher, but it takes time, training and lots and lots of practice to reach that point.

“Up to now, the nearest similar ramp to the one we’ll be installing has been in Manchester, meaning that North East riders who’ve wanted to access one as part of taking their routines to the next level have had to travel out of the region.

“While our new ramp will be open to all users and will be a great facility for everyone to use, we’re hoping that it’ll help encourage young riders who’ve got ambitions to get to the top of their sports to make more use of the enhanced facilities we’ll be offering.

“The funding we’ve had from Banks was the final piece of the jigsaw, and we’re now going all out to get the new ramp in place as quickly as we can.”

Banks is the business behind the proposed Beaumont Hill residential development to the north of Darlington, which would see up to 600 homes on a 35-hectare site to the south of the River Skerne that identified for residential development in the 2022 Darlington Borough Local Plan.

Substantial areas of public open space, a small retail convenience store unit and a range of biodiversity enhancements also feature in the project design.

Kate Culverhouse, community relations manager at the Banks Group, adds: “The 4Motion skatepark is already a brilliant community facility that’s really well used by local young people and this new ramp will give them even more opportunities to develop their skills.

“We’re very pleased to have helped 4Motion get their fundraising campaign over the line and look forward to seeing riders taking their places at the top of the ramp.”

The Banks Group’s community funds are independently managed by Point North (formerly the County Durham Community Foundation).

Anyone from a community close to a Banks Group project who is interested in applying for funding from the Banks Community Fund should contact the company via its website enquiry form (www.banksgroup.co.uk/contact-us/) to find out if their group or project is eligible.