A ROW over the siting of the Devizes skateboard ramp in Hillworth Park was taken to county court this week.

Bill Richardson, 62, of Hillworth House, is suing park owners Devizes Town Council, claiming the ramp is a nuisance.

Mr Richardson said at Bath County Court on Tuesday: "There had never been any damage to my house until the skateboard park was built. Since it was built I have suffered noise, graffiti and vandalism to my house and windows.

"A large proportion of kids that use it, use it legitimately but it is one or two per cent of the kids that cause the problems.

"I came back one day in the afternoon to find four or five kids skateboarding on my veranda, smashing my plants and bouncing off the Orangery walls with their skateboards."

He said the noise from the skateboards had been loud enough to keep him awake and likened it to the sound of a whip cracking.

Coun Noel Woolrych said at the court yesterday that the town council had taken great care about installing a skateboard park in Devizes.

He said: "A number of councillors visited skateboard parks in 1996/7. We were concerned that we should be trying to minimise any noise generated from it, bearing in mind there were no standards to go by. We specifically looked at noise levels and for the materials we went for something that was low noise."

When asked by Tim Fancourt, Mr Richardson's barrister, if the council had been aware of the potential problems of siting a skateboard park in Hillworth Park, Coun Woolrych said: "We were aware it would be likely to generate a significant amount of noise, yes."

Coun Woolrych said that there had been vandalism, noise and litter problems in the park before the skateboard park was built, but they had increased.

Acoustic consultant Andy Turnbull, witness for the town council, rejected the view that the noise from the skateboard park could be likened to a gunshot. He said the noise was more like a clatter.

But noise consultant Alan Saunders, a witness for Mr Richardson, said the ramp was causing a serious nuisance. He said the council ought to have known it would give rise to complaints.

The hearing was adjourned yesterday until a date still to be fixed.