Grafton 12yo takes campaign to politicians to fix beloved skate park

When 12-year-old Haylee Blair found a problem that needed fixing, she decided to take action.

The avid skater from South Grafton, in northern NSW, was dismayed at the state of her local skate park.

"There's cracks and holes everywhere and glass and stuff all over the skate park," she said.

"I love skateboarding and it's a skate park for a reason, but we're using it as a bike track because it's too rough."

The Grafton Skate Park was first built in 1998, with expansions undertaken in 2001 and 2011. 

The Clarence Valley Council's 2021 Draft Plan of Management for the skate park and other facilities noted the bowls had aged and its poor condition presented a safety hazard to users.

Haylee has a vision for a brighter future, and has been using the power of democracy to make it happen.

This week, she approached her local council and asked for action to deliver the much-needed maintenance.

"Our park is used by so many young people, and it means a lot to our community," she wrote.

On Thursday, the council voted unanimously to take up Haylee's cause, with a staff report to be brought back before councillors by October.

Councillor Cristie Yager called for the report and put Haylee’s case to the council. 

“Haylee and her family and now a very large group of people are getting behind the positivity that would come from having the skate park brought back up to a standard where it is suitable for skating," Cr Yager said at the council meeting on Thursday.

“I’m hoping we can get a whole lot of information that is available publicly that can help us find any kind of avenue forward on getting [the skate park] up to scratch.”

Cr Yager said that the upgrades to the Grafton skate park may not happen within this term of council. 

Haylee said her desire is for future repairs to the park to have some additions to help skaters of all ages take up the sport. 

"I would like to see a smoother skate park and maybe … a pump track for littler kids to have a go, because currently the ramps are way too big for little kids," she said.

"[Also some] shading and cameras."

It has been a sustained effort by the young skater, who first brought the issue to light on the community radio program she hosts after school.

That led to an invitation to present to a local rotary club, and then last month a conversation with her local mayor and member for state parliament.

Although supportive, Cr Ray Smith said the council did not have the funds for the estimated $250,000 project, and would need government assistance to pay for the work.

'That's community'

A little north from Haylee's hometown, the nearby regional city of Lismore shows how transformative a skate park can be.

Since opening a new state-of-the-art facility last August, Lismore has hosted several major skate events, including an official Skate Australia Olympic pathway event in April.

Even when major events are not running, the park is rarely empty.

"I start coaching down there at 7:30 most mornings, and I'm always surprised, sometimes there's people there skating even before I get there," skate coach and skate shop owner Samual Izac said.

"And then into the evening, I'll be coaching two, three sessions in a row and then people keep turning up until the lights go off at 11."

Mr Izac said there were skaters as young as three or four, through to adults into their 50s.

"When you're bringing people of all ages and demographics together socially, that's a really good thing," he said.

"To me, that's community."

Haylee hopes a refurbished or perhaps even a rebuilt skate park in Grafton could bring her own community together, especially younger people.

"It's so they can get out, have fun for free, exercise and get off their phones," she said.