SKATEBOARDERS and BMX riders are facing another summer without a skate park of their own after the latest possible spot was blocked.

Youngsters in Loughton have been campaigning for a space of their own with ramps and a track for more than a decade and were hoping they would be allowed to use part of Roding Valley Nature Reserve.

But the use of the site was blocked by wildlife guardian Natural England, which said it could set a precedent for similar parks to be built on other nature reserves.

Paul Morris, 40, of Barfields, Loughton, whose 11 and 14-year-old sons ride BMX bikes and skate, said: “Kids are chomping at the bit for it.

“If you give them something to do, it will reduce anti-social behaviour.”

He said he had found the issue mentioned on council agendas as far back at 1997.

“I can’t see that, being in Epping Forest, we can’t find a piece of land,” he added. “Epping has some ramps and Waltham Abbey has a skate park.”

More than £40,000 has already been pledged towards a skate park by Loughton Town Council and users set up the Skate Loughton group with the aim of raising the remaining £60,000 needed to buy the equipment.

But they were disappointed last year when a possible site for a park in Willingale Road was discounted after rare newts and slow worms were found there.

The town council is in talks with landowners over another possible site, but could not say where this was because of confidentiality rules.

Mr Morris, along with other parents and children in the town, is trying to get temporary skating ramps set up in playgrounds over the summer holidays while skaters wait for news on a permanent park.

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