Port Kembla's DIY skate park dodges demolition by city council

But it might need to move to a different location.

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The DIY skate park in King George V Park, built by residents during last year's COVID lockdown, had caused problems with council due to some of the facilities not conforming to safety standards.

For that reason council decided in mid-March that the facility had to be torn down.

"The assessments showed the home-made features like the ramps did not meet the Australian Standards and carried too much risk to users and were also placed in on a surface that also increased risk to users," Lord Mayor Gordon Bradbery said at the time.

However Ward 3 councillor Ann Martin put a hold on the demolition plans via a motion at Monday night's council meeting.

Cr Martin's motion called for council to work with residents - both those who built it and those opposed to it - about the future of the park at that site or elsewhere.

"I have had some phone calls for some residents who are concerned about the appearance of this facility," Cr Martin said.

"If there's no consensus then we need to look where else we can have a such a facility. Do we need to re-locate it and, if so, where?"

It also called on council to continue working with the community to make the skate park safe.

"I think it's all about goodwill and what goodwill means this time is we have to be prepared to work through difficulties and be prepared to compromise," she said.

"We need to work out from what is there, what can be retrofitted to be applicable to the standards and what we can also do to supplement it."

The motion passed unanimously.

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