There has been a lot of controversy about the skatepark being built in Homefield Park in Worthing, where a groundbreaking ceremony was recently attended by Worthing mayor Brian McLuskie.

Local residents and users of the park feel it will attract the wrong sort of people to the area.

I am a skater and am looking forward to the skatepark. I'm not a petty criminal and don't hang around the streets late at night making a nuisance of myself.

The majority of skaters are not like this either and we resent people lumping us together with troublemakers.

We don't like trouble makers any more than adults do but if I want to skate I'll have to put up with them. All I ask is for people not to prejudge skaters.

Skating is a sport like any other and much more highly skilled than football yet no-one seems to want to encourage it.

-Eleanor Snape, Worthing