JIM CORBEN, vice-chairman, Senior Council for Devon, Teignmouth, Shaldon and Bishopsteignton branch, writes:
Sorry, Ms Barberton, (Teignmouth Post, October 9), a number of us older residents in Teignmouth simply cannot believe you when you say: 'We are not opposing the construction of a skate park, merely the location.'
The scaremongering and entirely anti-skateboard petition, masquerading under the Save Our Seafront banner, supported no doubt by yourself and a very small minority of local residents, is based on a number of completely outrageous figments of imagination and inaccuracies. To associate the young skateboarders many of us have seen in the town with the very small number of vandals (ages unknown), guilty of damaging the viewing platform and children's play area in the last year or so, is beyond belief.
If you had visited one or two of the skate parks in other parts of Devon, as I have on a number of occasions, you would realise that the vast majority of young skateboarders are very appreciative of the skateboarding areas allocated to them.
They are keen to display their skills on site to public view, but also ever conscious of the need to maintain good relations with older members of the public who will, generally, have made a contribution in their council tax to the provision of skateboarding facilities.
From my observation in other areas I can confirm that a well used skateboarding park generates relatively little noise – less, I would say Ms Barberton, than that caused by some of the motor vehicles regularly passing your door daily along Teignmouth sea front.
Save Our Seafront may be a very laudable aim but, in Teignmouth, let's ensure that the Den, an area willed to us by a generous donor from another era, provides adequate quality recreational and cultural facilities for all, young and old, as befits a 21st century residential and tourist resort.