The Wanaka Skate Club (WSC) has welcomed repairs and a new extension currently underway at the skate park on Pembroke Park. 

Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) has funded the repair of the 18-year-old skate park bowl as well as a new ‘stage three’ extension to the park, which will increase its footprint by 424m2.

Wanaka Skate Club member Wayne Pretty said the extension would be well used by the growing skating community. 

“The place is getting busier and busier and the extension will offer more room,” he said. 

The skate park is used by an average of 200 people a day with numbers growing to up to 2,000 during the Christmas period. PHOTO: Tom Poden

Wayne said the extension would be a ‘street skating’ section. “The street skaters designed it: It’s all flat land and technical terrain but they’ve made it technically not too full on.”

It has 17 features including a ‘mellow bank’, ‘two stair’, ‘down rail’, ‘quarter pipe’, ‘banked hip’ and more.

The extension is a natural evolution for the skate park, and Wayne said a fourth stage would hopefully be added a few years down the road. 

The park is as much a community hub as it is a sporting facility: Established in 2002, it is used by people of all ages, providing a low-cost activity and accessible amenity which continues to increase in popularity. 

The new extension will increase the skate park footprint by 424m2. IMAGE: QLDC

Use of the park “comes in waves, but you can easily go down there and find 30 people a time, there’s around 200 people a day on average,” Wayne said.

During the Christmas period last year as many as 2,000 people were using the skate park each day, he said. 

Wayne said the club appreciated the council’s effort in making the upgrades possible. 

QLDC said it recognised the need for more space at the park to accommodate user demand.

“There was an urgent need to extend the park’s footprint in order to reduce congestion as it is a highly used recreational facility,” a representative said.

The site area is currently fenced off while the work is underway.

“As part of the work two silver birch trees will be removed, but we will plant replacement trees after the works are completed in autumn,” QLDC said. 

The upgrades are expected to be completed at the end of January 2021.