Shock Closure of Source Park
PAUL MCLAUGHLIN
The Source Park, one of the world’s largest underground skateparks, has been forced to close its doors with immediate effect due to urgent health and safety concerns. The shock announcement was made last Friday evening (24 July) at the start of the peak summer holiday season. The closure only affects the skatepark, which will remain shut until at least 2027. The hospitality businesses in the Courtyard will remain open as usual.
The Foreshore Trust, which owns the land on which the Source Park sits on behalf of Hastings Borough Council, has allocated £1.5m for emergency repair work to prevent water ingress and work to the concrete structures around the Source Park and Courtyard and the promenade in the immediate area. The tender process to find a contractor will start later this summer, and it is envisaged that the first phase of work should be completed in 2027, with further work taking over two to three years to complete in a phased approach.
The closure, which came without warning, has drawn sharp criticism from former Hastings Borough Councillor Judy Rogers, who questioned why action was not taken sooner. She said: “It has been known for some time that this work was needed, so I would question why it has been left till the point when a forced closure is necessary at a point in the year when we have the most visitors in town and it’s school summer holidays.”
The Source Park was opened in 2016, on the site of what was once a Turkish baths complex built in the 1870s. It sits below sea-level and has always had maintenance problems with dampness and water ingress.
In March, as part of the perpetual battle against the elements, the Foreshore Trust agreed to allocate £50,000 to prepare a tender pack to identify the scale of the works needed to address water ingress from the promenade and concrete repair works, including the “removal of loose or potentially dangerous areas within the main skate park” and to prepare tender documentation for future works.
At a meeting of Hastings Borough Council’s Charity Committee on 22 June, Kate Darbyshire, the Foreshore Trust Manager, presented councillors with a report setting out plans to allocate up to £1.5m over three years to undertake the repair in phased stages. They were told that a “phased approach would minimise disruption to tenants while allowing the effectiveness of the initial remedial works to be assessed before progressing to further internal repairs.”
The phased approach to the repair works was abandoned, however, following the discovery of “falling concrete and crumbling fire exits” as reported by the Source Park owners on Facebook, which prompted the Foreshore Trust to close the skatepark immediately. A spokesperson for the Trust said: “Safeguarding this key asset is a priority, and it is unfortunate that the required work means the park must close for a period of time. We apologise that the closure has come at such short notice; this is due to health and safety concerns at the park that made it necessary to close immediately.”
The closure of the skatepark has also forced the postponement of the popular Battle of Hastings BMX event, originally scheduled for September. The event organisers say the competition will now take place in 2027, with a new date to be confirmed once the repair schedule has been finalised.
Responding to concerns about pre-paid memberships of the skatepark, Source Park posted on Facebook that they “will contact everyone with memberships in due course.”
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