Well done Fatboy Slim for having the guts to ask for his £12,000 back, his donation to the Hove Lagoon skate park, after realising it was a bad idea to put it there (The Argus, May 14).

How wrong Graham Deane of Skateexpectations is to say that Fatboy was nobbled by some local residents. He did not mention there were 1,200 signatures on a petition against the skate park from local residents and lagoon users.

All the reasons for their opposition have come true - drug taking, vandalism, anti-social behaviour, graffiti, underage drinking, intimidation, reckless riding. And all this just ten yards from a very popular toddlers' play park and pool.

Graham Deane also forgot to mention that Veolia was the main sponsor of the project - a company which gave money to the skate park project at about the same time it was given planning permission to build a waste transfer site at Hollingdean (next to a school).

Not all skaters are yobs, but it attracts yobs, and most are not local. We have several skate parks in Brighton and Hove, with two more due to open in Southwick and Shoreham. The area around Hove Lagoon is already well served with leisure facilities, while the lagoon itself is in dire need of renovation.

Police have been called to this area more times in the past few weeks than ever before, on two occasions to stop organised gang fights. Kids have smashed up the seafront shelter, thrown stones at the swans and openly used drugs there. The upgrade of the CCTV was a condition of planning consent before the skate park's opening but this has yet to be done.

The difficult access means most skateboarders cross the busy A259 - how long before a tragic accident? An elderly resident was knocked to the floor just last week by two skateboarders. Older youths are also piling on to the nearby toddlers' rides in an attempt to break them.

This is now becoming a no-go area for the once successful play park, and something needs to be done about it. All the security guards that are supposed to have been drafted in at weekends have not made any difference as no one has the power, except the police.

We as council tax payers are paying for the continual problems and extras. The council's planning, leisure and sport departments should be ashamed of themselves.

  • P Johnston, Kingsway, Hove