A GROUP of young skateboarders have expressed disappointment after their funding hopes for a new skate park were dashed.

The Wool Skaters Group has lamented “the end of three years’ hard work” after it was told that it would not receive further funding towards a new community skate park for the village.

Plans for a high quality concrete park beat thousands of other applicants by winning the maximum grant of £50,000 from Sport England in 2017, but this would only provide 35 per cent of build costs projected by the group.

Following this announcement, the group received positive feedback from local grant applications and had high hopes of reaching their target, however, this month the group were told that both of their landfill community fund applications, from Viridor Credits and Suez Communities Trust, have been rejected at the final stage.

Project director Patrick Murray said: “Because the deadline attached to our Sport England grant is May 2018, this recent news could mean the end of our three years’ hard work.

“A decade of austerity means there’s so little money available from local authorities these days and unfortunately, there’s just not enough philanthropy to plug the gaps. It seems that sound and sustainable projects for rural communities are simply not a priority, for anyone.”

Wool Skaters Group teamed up with Wool Parish Council as part of its project planning, and there has also been a surge of support for the project from residents.

Concerns have been raised over Purbeck District Council’s plans to introduce 1,000 new homes in Wool by 2030, with residents worried about infrastructure provision for the village.

Mr Murray added: “Despite our best efforts to improve our local area, foster community spirit in the younger generation and to think long-term, we simply can’t tap into the resources needed for this project and that is a crying shame.”

Wool Skaters Group is now re-applying to the local authority for funds and is appealing to local business for financial support to realise its initiative.

Visit @woolskatepark on Facebook or email Patrick at woolskatepark@gmail.com for more information.