Glasgow community skate park underneath Kingston Bridge outraged over risk of closure from transport officials

A community skate park underneath the Kingston Bridge is facing closure from transport officials after 4 years in operation.

Kingston DIY was first founded in November of 2020 in Kinning Park to give the community a space to practice and engage in skateboarding - with the space often hosting events in collaboration with Glasgow skate brands like Route One.

This would be the second skate park shut down in the last year in Glasgow, following on from the forced closure of Burnfield DIY.

Representatives of Kingston DIY claim that their community skate park has transformed the area underneath the Kingston Bridge, once a hub for anti-social behaviour and an ‘eyesore’ spot popular with fly-tippers and drug dealers, into a community space that is of benefit to the community and believe that their presence and continued work has led to a sharp decline in anti-social behaviour.

On the other hand transport officials are claiming that the skate park has led to a rise in anti-social behaviour in the area like vandalism, fire raising, drug use and graffiti under the M8 West Street on/off ramp, one of Transport Scotland’s ‘major bridges’. Plans to deny access to the public by establishing a fence around the area were made clear to the organisers of Kingston DIY.

One of the founders of Kingston DIY, Stuart Ramage, spoke out about the situation, he said: “We started Kingston DIY back in November of 2020 because there was nowhere in the city that people could skate for free. It was never meant to be a skate park, in the beginning it was just a little ledge, but people got in touch to donate time and money to building it all up.

“Ever since then the local community have become more and more involved, they were all really taking ownership of the space. They had a community garden here, we organised litter picks together, and the space even hosted events and fundraisers for charities. It really grew arms and legs.

“In an area struggling for community spaces - it should be an inspirational story that the community themselves gathered up the tools, resources, and time to create the space. Instead of being a dead eyesore, the space is now actively utilised - it’s quite busy, Parents will even drop their kids off for skate lessons.

“Kinning Park really needed a space like Kingston DIY, it reduces anti-social behaviour by giving young people something to do. There are people constantly at the skate park, it’s self-policed and far less of a dodgy area than it used to be thanks to the park.”

The space has been built up over the last years, with ‘verts’, ramps, and other skating structures constructed by the skateboarding community through fundraisers and funding awards from brands like Red Bull.

Kingston DIY allege that they have been able to operate without issue since they first set up 4 years ago, and that in previous interactions with transport and law officials they were allowed to continue with the community space as long as they kept off of supporting pillars of the Kingston Bridge, still allowed access to the site, and kept transport officials informed of future builds.

Stuart continued: “There was no issue with Amey or Transport Scotland until a few days ago, when we got a message out of the blue telling us they would be putting a fencing scheme up. It’s unclear they plan to implement it too - we’re not sure if they’re going to demolish everything we’ve built there.

“I think their claims of anti-social behaviour are kind of crazy. When we first went down before the skate park existed the space under the bridge was full of needles and fly rubbish. The amount of waste and rats was insane. We took it upon ourselves to tidy it all up. In terms of the claims of vandalism, there was nothing there to vandalise.

“Completely shutting off the area is not the solution, if they really want to protect the space there are other ways to do so, regular inspections for example, there are plenty of ways they could protect the area without resorting to shutting it all down.”

Kingston DIY posted to Instagram explaining the situation they face with Transport Scotland and Amey, which at time of writing has received 2,350 likes and over 130 comments in support of the park.

A petition posted by the group behind the skate park to save Kingston DIY has received over 1,900 signatures. The petition on Change.org can be read in full by clicking here.

A spokesperson for Amey, the company responsible for maintaining the south-west trunk road network, on behalf of Transport Scotland, said: “Amey is planning a fencing scheme at the Kingston Bridge Complex and Port Eglinton Viaduct areas of the M8 motorway in Glasgow.

“This location has suffered from significant anti-social behaviour issues, specifically around the West Street off and on ramps to the M8. These behaviours include vandalism, unsolicited graffiti, fire-raising, drug use, and the littering of drug paraphernalia (needles) and littering.

“Amey has a duty of care to ensure these areas are kept clean, tidy, and safe for use for all road users, and while our patrols do all they can to monitor these areas they cannot provide an effective overall solution.

“To tackle these problems, we are erecting additional fencing, which includes the area used by the DIY skate park. However, we have been in contact with the skate park organisers to make it clear that we understand that we do not attribute these anti-social behaviours with DIY skate park users.

“Amey have informed DIY Skate Park that we remain open to continued conversations about this matter, while acknowledging that the that the safety and upkeep of these sections of the trunk road remains paramount.”