Give us a place to skate!
By Glen Atwell
THE fate of Cranbourne’s iconic skate boarding venue, The Shed, will soon be decided by Casey council.
Recent closed door briefings at the civic centre have debated the future of the region’s only indoor skate facility, which shut late last year, and local thrill seekers have renewed calls for a revamp and reopening.
It may not be all smooth skating, however, with a number of other community groups, including BATS Theatre Company, expected to challenge for some of the available space.
BATS’ rehearsal centre, The Factory, is attached to The Shed and has three large rehearsal rooms and four practice rooms for dance, music and theatre.
Casey skaters want The Shed, which operated for 14 years before shutting down in December, to reopen bigger and better, and not relinquish space to The Factory.
Narre Warren mother of three Tracy Clark said The Shed should be revamped into a world class skate park.
“The Factory has taken space off The Shed before, it’s time council put some money into the skate park,” she said.
“My children loved it and they have had nowhere to skate since December.”
Councillor Wayne Smith, who was a representative of the Cranbourne Shire Council when The Shed first opened, said he supported the push to reopen The Shed as a skate park but recognised the possibility of The Factory, or other arts groups, acquiring a small part of The Shed’s current space.
“I’m keen to see it stay on as a skate park,” he said.
“But there is a possibility that parts of the space could be used by other groups.”
Cr Lorraine Wreford said the facility needed to be refurbished and reopened as soon as possible.
“The Shed needs to be brought into the 21st century for the skaters and bikers of Casey,” she said.
“We need to investigate other skate facilities, both nationally and overseas and come up with something world class.”
Cr Wreford said the possibility of the complex being used for anything other than skating, biking and rollerblading was not in the best interests of the community.
“I’m willing to fight tooth and nail to ensure The Shed remains an indoor skate park,” she said.
“With the soon-to-open Cranbourne Aquatic and Leisure Centre and the existing basketball stadium nearby, this precinct has the potential to be very popular with young people.”
Cr Steve Beardon said Casey skaters had been left in the dark since The Shed shut.
“We’ve got the opportunity to revitalise The Shed, install new ramps and rails and make it one of the best skate parks in Victoria.”
“The existing infrastructure is already there and Casey’s youth population want it back,” Cr Beardon said.
At Tuesday night’s Casey Council meeting, Cr Smith presented an item of urgent business which would invite members and groups of the city’s arts community to be consulted before the future of The Shed was decided.
Cr Beardon said he pushed to have the motion amended to also include local skate groups in the process.
“The motion was passed, and arts and skate groups will now be invited to have their say on The Shed,” he said.
“It will be hard for skaters to voice an opinion, however, because unlike theatre and dance groups, there is no one body that skateboarders belong to. I’m still confident The Shed will remain a fully-fledged skate park,” Cr Beardon said.
