Pencester Gardens are sited in the centre of Dover and provide a welcome area of green space within the town.
The open lawns abut the River Dour provide a pleasant area for those working or visiting the town to relax.
A skate park and play area are provided and Dover Town Council constructed a bandstand in 2000, which is regularly used through the summer.
The new Skate Park in Pencester Gardens is one of the most exciting youth facilities in the area with its cutting edge technology and a modern “street design” concept.
The new skate park, officially opened on 3 March 2007 replaces the original skate park which was built on the same site in 1998. The new park has doubled the size of the old one and provided street design skating equipment to reflect the increased demand for skating & BMX facilities in the district.
The new park can be used for skateboarding, skating, in-line skating, and BMX riding.
The original idea to rejuvenate the existing skate park came from a group of young skaters and Dover District Council who were keen to improve youth facilities in the area.
The SK8 skate group evolved and formed a sub group of the Dover District Council Youth Forum. SK8 was involved in consultation about the skate park all the way through and they will remain involved in this project – organising training courses and other activities.
Also involved in the consultation were the East Kent Coastal Primary Care Trust, Dover
Anti-Social Behaviour Unit and Dover Town Council.
Funding
Kent County Council Dover Local Board has provided substantial funding for the Pencester Gardens Skate Park. Additionally Barclays Spaces for Sports initiative has provided a £50,000 donation which represents 55% of the overall cost.
Barclays Spaces for Sports is a three year £30 million programme and is a partnership between Barclays, Groundwork and the Football Association. The aim of the programme is to create safe high quality accessible areas for local people to enjoy sporting activities.
Jo Roy, Manager of the Barclays branch in Dover said: “Barclays has been delighted to support this site with a £50,000 donation from our Spaces for Sports initiative. I hope that the Skate Park gives a lot of people a lot of pleasure for a long time to come.”
E-mail: propertyservices@dover.gov.uk
