PLANS to build a new skatepark at Westmead have already hit the skids, with furious residents vowing to fight it all the way.

Gathered at the site of the proposed skatepark on Westmead Playing Fields on Tuesday evening, residents from homes in The Paddocks, which look out over the site, said they were being press-ganged into having a noisy skatepark against their wishes.

Mike Osborne, 65, said: "The Borough Lands Charity have apparently given their approval for a skatepark site here without even consulting us.

"But all I can say is that we won't have it and if, like the residents of Monkton Park before us, we have to go to the Ombudsman to stop it, we will."

The proposals to build the skatepark on an area of scrubland next to the River Avon were announced in February, at a meeting of skateinsafety2003, the campaign for a skatepark for the town.

Chippenham's former skatepark, which cost £50,000 to install at Monkton Park, was closed in June 2002 following fierce complaints by residents about noise levels.

Subsequent attempts by the district council to identify another site have proved fruitless, with more than 20 sites failing to meet the criteria.

Cliff Thomas, 70, said: "When we met with the skate group recently, we told them honestly that we think this is a completely unsuitable venue for a skatepark. Everyone knows that it is on a floodplain. But on top of that, their views that it has good facilities like toilets and good access are also rubbish."

He explained that children will have to cross the Avenue La Fleche, or travel along Westmead Lane, used by Hygrade lorries, to get to it.

But the residents were keen to emphasis that they sympathise with the skaters' plight and feel sorry for them.

Mike Connolly, who founded skateinsafety2003 with fellow-parent Geoff Faulkner, said he understood the residents' anxieties and that the process would be subject to council and public scrutiny.

Skaters Fergus O'Neill, 17, of Monkton Park and Jamie Rose, 16, of Hardenhuish Meadow, said they were gutted by the news. Jamie said: "It seemed like we were really close to actually getting the skatepark which everyone wants, but this could take us back to square one again."