Skateboarders in Coventry could soon be making use of a new £35,000 facility after a 12-year-old boy petitioned his local councillor.

Whoberley resident Daniel Shuttleworth was so annoyed at making travel arrangements to get to Leamington Spa to visit the nearest skateboarding facility that he collected his friends’ signatures onto a petition.

However, Whoberley councillor Kevin Maton admits the youngster could not have expected the reaction that he got from Coventry City Council.

Cllr Maton said:

"There had been talk about Coventry having a skateboarding facility in the past but the excuse always seems to have been that it is just a phase that will die out.

"I think the fact that kids are still as keen as ever, you only have to go to any site where there is a decent stretch of concrete to see that, has disproved that theory.

"I put the petition to the Parks and Leisure Committee and a group of us went out to look at a site at the Memorial Park, which used to be tennis courts but is now just derelict concrete.

"There was talk about providing a basic facility which would cost around £10,000 but the decision was made to have better equipment which will cost nearer the £35,000 mark."

And the success of the appeal does not stop there either as 12-year-old Daniel will now be invited to look at some different ideas that the council has for the site, something which delights Maton.

He said:

"So often you hear people saying they appealed for something and got nowhere and this is a nice case of people really being heard.

"In the next few days some of the people on the petition are due to meet the council to advise them on what equipment they would like on the site, and to look through some brochures from suppliers - so it is all moving forward."

The news comes after the opening of England’s biggest outdoor skate park in Stratford-on-Avon.