GAZETTE & HERALD: A row has broken out over the use of Calne recreation ground as a location for a mobile skate park.

A temporary unit set up on Anchor Road over Easter weekend has provoked an angry backlash from neighbours.

A chain, locked around the gate to the ground preventing the mobile unit from entering the site, had to be cut with a saw before the council could get on to the recreation ground.

But while residents are furious that they had not been consulted, the woman behind the scheme, Coun Carol O'Gorman, has hailed the skate park a great success.

Coun O'Gorman, North Wiltshire District Council lead member for youth, said: "The whole thing was just brilliant.

"There were over 200 youngsters there over the weekend. There was no trouble and the kids cleaned up after themselves. It was just a magnificent day.

"People ages six to 26 were using it. It was a real feeling of festival."

But Paul Davis, who lives near the site, said: "The council specifically said before that they would not put a skate park there without prior consultation.

"All the residents are absolutely livid."

Now Mr Davis says he and his neighbours are demanding that Coun O'Gorman resigns for failing to listen to the electorate.

Mr Davis said: "They have not told us if it is going to be a permanent thing or a few days a week. We don't want it at all.

"The problem is noise and drugs. One resident said they saw children smoking drugs and the police did nothing.

"The noise was so bad that day that residents were forced to the back of their houses.

"The council are only talking to people who benefit from it and not to the residents who are badly affected."

Angela Turner, who also lives near the site, said she had seen youngsters using the skatepark running over cars and throwing eggs.

She said: "The language they use when they are there is appalling. You can't take grandchildren over to the park. Everyone is quite upset about it.

She said that residents were not given any any notice that the skate park was coming.

"If the council had asked if we wanted one, we would have said no," she said.

She said residents were not against skate parks, they just felt the recreation ground was the wrong place.

"The park is for everyone, not just them. They need a proper skate park on the outskirts of Calne. It could go in the industrial estate or at John Bentley School."

The skate park was provided by North Wiltshire District Council for eight hours on Easter Saturday in partnership with Calne Town Council and Community First.

The district council is now seeking funding for a mobile skate park that could visit different sites in Calne on a regular basis.

Support for the park came from grandmother Vi Roberts, 57, of Newcroft Road.

She was so delighted with what she saw when she took her grandchildren to the park that she wrote to congratulate the council.

"It was lovely to see children enjoying themselves," she said.

"I can't understand why people don't want this thing when the children are so bored and get up to mischief."