The ‘street skating’ area, in the Waltham Overbridge corner of the reserve, will feature obstacles, walls, and rails to slide on.

Sixteen new car parks, alongside the Canon building, should take some pressure off Washington Way.

Installation of lighting will make the reserve safer at night for skaters using the facility, which is open 24 hours. Over the last couple of years a volunteer warden has supervised the skate park in the weekends and some evenings, and Council park rangers monitor it regularly. Councillor Carole Anderton, Chairperson of the Parks, Waterways and Gardens Committee, says that she is very pleased this stage has finally come about. “We’ve been promising this to Christchurch’s young people for so long and now we can fulfil that promise, even though it’s taken a while, due to the legalities. In the meantime, these young skaters have behaved so well, taking care around elderly people on the streets.” As for any other sport, says Anderton, the city needed to expand skating facilities so the participants can improve their skills.

Washington Reserve has been zoned Business 3 (inner city industrial). This zone comprises the city’s oldest industrial areas, located mainly south and east of the Central City Zone and extending into Waltham and Sydenham.