This year’s Go Skateboarding Day is fast approaching (it’s June 21st in case you didn’t know). And this year SkateMCR is planning to organise another protest skate at URBIS.
Go Skateboarding Day 2008 is set to be a big one in Manchester because the Vans team are coming here for the day! Their team includes Kris Vile, Danny Wainwright, Ross McGouran and local boy Ben Grove.
Their plan is to have a pump aroung the Projekts Skatepark from noon - 3pm, then sign stuff at the NOTE shop from 4 - 5pm, street skate from 5 - 8pm, then finish off with a Jam at Central Skatepark from 8pm onwards where there will be bands and some “special guests”!
The SkateMCR Protest will be at URBIS from 6pm - 8pm so the Vans team should be able to come and skate with everyone at the best spot in town. The protest will be about the byelaws which ban skateboarding in Manchester’s City Centre. See the byelaws here and sign the petition to get rid of them here: http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/SkateMCR/
See the Vans website for more info. Here’s their poster:
Manchester Space Invaders, a local collective, is organising a weekend of events taking place on the 11-12th April in response to an international callout for celebration and defense of autonomous spaces and the alternative cultures they play host to.
What this basically means is that they are getting all manner of Manchester based groups together who feel increasingly marginalised from their own city to protest and party!
They say:
With sky-high rents, the creeping privatisation of public space, and a council willing to close down vital community services and simultaneously sell off swathes of the city centre to luxury property developers and retailers, there has seldom been a time when fighting for autonomous spaces in Manchester has been more important.
Manchester Space Invaders are a collective of autonomous groups and inidividuals working together to reclaim our city…they are mobilising to fight gentrification, ‘regeneration‘ and all the borders that exist within the city. They call for all groups, individuals, networks and families to get involved and to join in our glorious celebration of autonomous spaces.
The events will include a bike-parade, gigs, an open-air fair/park party, plenty of workshops (on topics as diverse as the legal and technical intricacies of squatting and the theory and practicalities of using the independent media), a demonstration and, of course, a free/squat party! Each will take place in such a way as to reclaim public space or celebrate spaces operating free from private ownership, corporate culture and state control. Click here for the line-up.
With the byelaws banning skateboarding, harassment from security guards and police alike, urban “furniture” designed to discourage skating and the recent struggle for SkateMCR funding etc, Manchester Space Invaders hope that the skating community might have some affinity with the motivation behind the events. Also, some of the events will be at URBIS.
I totally agree that these issues are at the core of the problems skaters have in Manchester. So let’s support this cause.
If you’re up for organising any skate related action on the 11th or 12th of April, let us know and we’ll help however we can!
Document’s new mini-mag which is free and available form skateshops has a review of Manchester, both the City and the skate scene so get your copy right away! I think the article is also in the Document mag too.
On quick correction tot he article though: Although Projekts support SkateMCR and are trying to get an extension to the Pump Cage, is is SkateMCR who are “hounding council representatives, pushing for new parks and opposing the bylaws banning skateboarding in the city”… just so you know!
I totally missed this when it was in the paper nearly 2 weeks ago but it’s a good article covering many of the issues surrounding skateboarding in Manchester:
KEEN skateboarder ‘Chris’ travels more than 200 miles, all the way from Pontypridd in Wales to use the facilities Manchester has to offer.
Yet despite what appears to be a ringing endorsement of the city’s ability to attract skaters to its facilities, Chris and his fellow skaters still feel Manchester needs to `pull its finger out’.
“I reckon a skate plaza in the city centre would be great so we could street skate without all the hassle of being asked to leave,” says Chris, 23.
Byelaws prevent city centre skating and cover the big attraction for Mancunian street skaters - Cathedral Gardens, outside Urbis. Anyone found flouting the law receives a formal warning, and may be prosecuted.
Since these measures were introduced in 2001, more than 100 people have received verbal warnings and at least four have been taken to court, fined and ordered to pay costs.
The problem, though, can only get worse. Skateboarding has gone through a revival since 2000 and hundreds of skaters now flock to the city every weekend.
On one side of the debate, the skaters claim they’re starved of decent purpose-built facilities, but on the other, the council believes street skating is anti-social to shoppers and tourists, not to mention expensive as the council has to fork out to repair damage to street furniture.
Lure
Yet the lure of skateboarding stretches beyond the city centre, across the length and breadth of Greater Manchester. A new skatepark at Stamford Park, Altrincham, is in the offing after police, community leaders and councillors agreed it was sorely needed to help get young people off the streets and engaging in and creative energetic pastime.
Teenage skater Nick James believes provision of more facilities is long overdue. “Skaters in Manchester really need a skate plaza, something similar to Urbis, but designed especially for skaters,” says the 17-year-old.
“There aren’t enough facilities. The one under the Mancunian Way gets wet if it rains because there are no walls - it makes it unusable.”
That venue is council-funded, but Mick Regan, head of community activity at Manchester council, says the problem is keeping all parties happy.
“We have a lot of meetings where people have conflicting demands. We’re heavily involved in the Mancunian Way skatepark. Along with the financial assistance, we also run the positive futures program, helping disadvantaged kids get involved with sports, like skateboarding.”
The UK Skateboarding Association has raised concerns about the number and quality of the skateparks. Chairman Kevin Parrot believes there are too few indoor parks and the rest are badly constructed council parks.
Problem
Lack of suitable facilities shifts the problem back to the streets, where the skaters are drawn to places with the architecture and street furniture to hone their skills, such as steps, handrails and ramps.
But Cathedral Gardens is now out of bounds and two other favourite hangouts have also gone: the Gasworks is now under redevelopment, and the University of Manchester campus has introduced anti-skateboarding devices, like blister paving.
“I can understand why people prefer to street skate,” says Paul Harrison, owner of The World Famous Central Skatepark. “The idea of exploring and finding new spots is the whole point.
“But I also think it’s common sense that there are laws in place. I’m not saying people shouldn’t street skate, I’m just saying it’s unfair to try and demand that they’re allowed to damage other people’s property.”
But a rebellion is brewing. SkateMCR was set up by disgruntled Mancunian skaters, fed up with the restrictions and poor skating facilities in the city. They want the bans lifted and have even petitioned the Prime Minister’s website.
However, Steve Bass, who recently bought one of the region’s largest skateparks, believes the real way forward is through cooperation between skaters and local councils.
Steve’s UKskatepark in Stockport (formerly Bones) attracts around 200 people every Saturday. “Lot’s of outdoor parks in Manchester are built by the local councils, who tend to order ramps out of catalogues and then plonk them somewhere with no thought to their set up,” explains Steve.
“There’s only one other indoor park in the city, Central Skatepark, and if that gets too busy it’s almost unusable.”
The all-weather concrete platforms around Urbis mean it has found itself at the centre of the debate. But chief executive Vaughan Allen is keen to show they embrace the city’s skate culture. He said: “Urbis has adopted a proactive response to the problem by holding a number of skateboarding exhibits and events.”
SkateMCR has set-up a petition on the Governments petition website asking the Prime Minister to Remove the Byelaws which ban skateboarding in Manchester’s City Centre.
Click here to go to the petition and add your name. Get your parents and siblings and friends and cousins to add their names too!
This is the blurb for the petition:
We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Remove the Byelaws which ban skateboarding in Manchester’s City Centre.
The Byelaws, introduced in 2001, prohibit skateboarding in Manchester’s City Centre and criminalizes young people who, by skateboarding, are doing something physically active, socially engaging, constructive and creative.
The Government want to reduce obesity, increase social inclusion, encourage “play” activities among young people and reduce youth offending rates. The Byelaws oppose all of these aims.
The Government won’t respond to a pettion with less than 200 signatories. So let’s get on it and make this petition huge. It depends on you telling everyone about it, so start emailing everyone this link: http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/SkateMCR/
There were 3 main things we discussed at the SkateMCR Open Meeting on Monday evening. They were:
plans for a 6-month removal of the byelaw banning skateboarding from Cathedral Gardens outside URBIS,
plans for a Manchester International Skateboard Festival,
and raising the profile and getting more people involved with the aims and campaigning of SkateMCR.
6-month removal of byelaw at Cathedral Gardens
Following the Public Meeting at URBIS, I met with Vaughan Allen from URBIS and Gary Ellis from City Co. They suggested the best way to get the byelaws removed would be to propose a 6-month trial at Cathedral Gardens. After that 6 months, we will then have evidence and figures about how it was (hopefully) successful - the public were safe and enjoyed it, crime did not increase, etc. etc.
It was suggested in the Open Meeting that there should be signs around Cathedral Gardens (maybe in place of the “No Skateboarding” signs) alerting the public to the fact that this is a skate-able area.
We also talked about time restrictions. During the meeting with Vaughan and Gary, they said that URBIS, The Triangle and the Cathedral would all be supportive of this idea, but Chethams School of Music have some issues. Since the building is the school and halls of residence, they would probably not want skateboarding after 8pm so their students can rest and sleep.
Somebody suggested that they don’t think the students would actually mind and that we should do a short questionairre outside the school one afternoon to guage what the students reaction would be.
I said that the 6-month trial would probably take place over the summer next year, maybe from March to September. Others disagreed and thought that if the trial was over the winter, there would be less public around meaning potential for fewer accidents and a more likely chance that the trial would be successful.
I will continue putting the proposal together with Vaughan Allen from URBIS and giving feedback about it’s contents through this website. If you have any comments, let us know, or we can’t include them!
Manchester International Skateboard Festival
I suggested the idea that the festival be based on the Manchester Jazz Festival where there are multiple locations around the City Centres set-up for skateboarding over 1 weekend. For example, there could be some transitions at St. Ann’s Sq., a street area at Piccadilly, a Vert ramp out side the Town Hall, and URBIS could be skated. There would be a big finale, perhaps at URBIS.
Pro teams will be invited to come and skate at each venue at set times outlined in a schedule which will be available to the public. One of the aims of the festival is to educate the public about skateboarding and the skate scene in manchester - to show that skateboarding is creative and fun, and that skateboarders aren’t yobs wanting to destroy everything and do crime, but that the skate scene is very tight, friendly and inclusive.
The point was made that whenever it is arranged for, it should not conflict with other skate events or people from around the country will not come and join in.
Another idea is to run the festival over 1 week with skate films being shown at the Cornerhouse each evening and to have skate related art exhibitions at URBIS and other galleries around the City Centre.
Someone suggested using the big screen at the triangle to cover the skate events. Curbsurfers were suggested to get involved to organise that.
If you have any ideas or comments on these ideas, let us know by leaving a comment below!
Raising the profile and involvement of SkateMCR
The point was made that some of the people in the meeting didn’t know it was happening until that afternoon! People suggested making fliers for each meeting so more people know what’s going on. I said that it was all on the website, and it was pointed out that few people look at the website. So we will make fliers with the web address of this site for each thing we do from now on.
Someone suggested doing a Trick Of The Week feature on this website to attract more people to keep coming back. I said I also do a regular Podcast interviewing skaters in Manchester and that will hopefully draw more people to the website.
The idea emerged of organising something every month which everybody can get excited about. Ideas were games of SKATE, a relay race around the City Centre, a best line competition and a film competition. These things can be organised quite quickly but will raise the profile of SkateMCR.
Another idea was to organise coaches to take people to different skate parks / spots and particularly to national skate events like War Of The Roses.
Also, I will set-up a petition on the Governments website to remove the byelaws in Manchester. Hopefully that will get more skaters involved and raise the profile of SkateMCR too.
You are invited to come to the next SkateMCR Open Meeting at 7pm at the Projekts shop (36 - 40 Edge Street, Northern Quarter) on the 15th October.
We will be discussing plans for a 6 month removal of the byelaw banning skateboarding from Cathedral Gardens (aka URBIS). The idea bahind this is to prove to Manchester City Council and others that skateboarders can look after a space and that it is positive for the City.
Another thing on the agenda will be plans for Manchester International Skateboard Festival for summer 2008.
You can only hear what the current plans are and pitch in your ideas if you’re at the meeting, so make sure you come!
I was encouraged and impressed that so many people came to the public meeting. There were well over 50 people who attended, the vast majority of whom were skateboarders. Guests who attended were Councillor Pat Karney, Gary Ellis from City Co. (formerly Manchester City Centre Management Company), Vaughan Allen (Chief executive of URBIS), Inspector Faz Zaman and Linda McCarthy (Community Safety Co-ordinator for the City Centre).
One of the frustrating debates was about the byelaws which ban skateboarding in Manchesters City Centre. Pat Karney explained that they were bought about in response to complaints about skateboarders in 2000 / 2001. He went on to apologise that the Council hadn’t consulted with skateboarders until now.
The complaints themselves became a big issue with skaters wanting to know how many complaints were made before the byelaws came into place and how many were actually about incidents with skateboarders. Pat Karney admitted he didn’t know and agreed that many of the complaints were probably due to anxiety rather than incidents.
Another issue about the complaints was that skaters felt they were being wrongly penalised by complaints about the other kids at URBIS. Skaters felt that they were being lumped in with the other kids at URBIS and it was pointed out that skaters were at URBIS to skate, which is a constructive activity. Inspector Faram said that while in plain clothes at URBIS, he had seen skateboarders getting drunk and being intimidating to others. He suggested that if skaters wanted to have a better chance at getting rid of the byelaws and to be seen as responsible, they need to report such crimes to the Police.
Many arguments were raised in support of getting rid of the byelaws, particularly outside URBIS at Cathedral Gardens. They included
the fact that skateboarders were being criminalised for a positive and very social activity,
that to allow skateboarders to skate in certain City Centre areas will make them safer since the more people who use public spaces the safer those spaces become, and
that skateboarders are in the majority respectful of pedestrians and other people using public spaces since they don’t want hassle or they won’t be able to skate.
It seemed that the guests understood the arguments and agreed with many, with Vaughan Allen saying that he wanted skaters to skate outside URBIS. But abolishing the byelaws immediately was an idea firmly ruled out by Pat. This caused a block in the debate which meant it could not go any further and left many skaters frustrated.
This is where it all becomes about politics. The City Council can’t be seen to u-turn on these byelaws since it will be an admission of a mistake, and they will lose votes. Pat suggested that the only way to get rid of the byelaws is to convince the other 95 Councillors about the benefits of skateboarding and the negative effect the skateboarding byelaws are having on the City. But I don’t think this will be enough. The Councillors will want to see that the public want the byelaws removed and that if they got rid of the byelaws, they will get more votes.
Another important issue raised at the meeting was the role of the Police. Pat Karney insisted that skateboarders shouldn’t blame the Police for any of the fines or ASBO’s, instead, they should blame the City Council since they decided to create the byelaws. Inspector Faram pointed out that Greater Manchester Police is apolitical and has no anti-skate attitude, they simply enforce the laws which the Government and City Council require them to.
When asked about more funding for skate facilities in Manchester, Pat Karney’s response was “Join the Queue!” He made it clear that skateboarders were in competition with everybody else in Manchester who wants more money for their ideas or needs.
By the end of the meeting it was clear that the next step is to form a group, including Pat Karney, Vaughan Allen, Gary Ellis, GMP and some skateboarders, to continue looking at these issues, particularly the byelaws and funding.
Finally, this is the video which was shown during the introduction to the meeting:
Organised by SkateMCR, Manchester City Council and URBIS, this public meeting is open to anybody to come and discuss issues surrounding skateboarding in Manchester, particularly the City Center.
It will be held in the B2B Rooms in URBIS at 7pm on the 24th July 2007.
Come along to express your views, concerns, ideas and complaints about skateboarding in Manchester. Hear what others have to say, including the Council, Police, and Skateboarders.
Document Magazine have published a 4-page spread devoted to ASBO in Manchester. It’s got some awesome photo’s of Ben Grove’s backside 180 down the URBIS 3 set and of Woody’s 360 off the platform at Central Skatepark. Buy it from your local skateshop - issue 68, June 2007.
The article is so affirming of what we are trying to do here in the skatescene in Manchester, I get excited every time I read it! Thanks muchly Percy! Here is the article:
“Raising awareness”, it’s a oversued phrase synonymous with skateboarding and basically anything that needs help to further itself through mediums that are out of it’s immediate control. Not so much a cry for help more a call to arms. Form a group, motivate yourselves and get something done, make people notice!
The ASBO Ashes event series held on 4 consecutive Sundays in April was all about shaking things up.
Organised by the Manchester Action group SkateMCR which opposes all the byelaws prohibiting skateboarding in the city by attending public meetings, petitioning and actually dealing with the council as opposed to sitting back and whinging. They demand that the council of Manchester consult with them before building skateparks to prevent any bullshit constructions and they constantly lobby for the provision of a much needed skateplaza.
I know it’s a big job and one that the erratic concentration span of a skateboarder is not best suited too but it’s a job that needs doing in every city in this country. That is how we kick the cowboys out of the skatepark construction industry, that is how we get parks we need, want and will use!
Ben Gibbs heads this thankless task and runs SkateMCR, updates the site www.skatemcr.com and organised (along with the help of the four skateboard establishments in the city) The ASBO Ashes series.
Projekts Skatepark, Note Store, Cast Skateboard Shop and The World Famous Central Skatepark all bro’ed down together and held events over the four Sundays, Jam’s at all the parks (and Cast’s mini) and a street take over that included catamaran races, a race from one side of the city to the other and a best trick at various spots. It is rare that all corners of any given cities scene will tolerate each other, never mind work together.
Over the 4 Sundays 3 man teams formed and skated the parks and city of Manchester. It was a good thing.
Hopefully sometime soon each city in this country will have the notion to form a group as pro-active about skateboarding as SkateMCR. Groups that actually talk less and do more!
Maybe then we can put an end to any more travesties of justice that purport to be “For Skateboarding” on our island.
Go Skateboarding Day 2008 is set to be a big one in Manchester because the Vans team are coming here for the day! Their team includes Kris Vile, Danny Wainwright, Ross McGouran and local boy Ben Grove.
What this basically means is that they are getting all manner of Manchester based groups together who feel increasingly marginalised from their own city to protest and party!
The events will include a bike-parade, gigs, an open-air fair/park party, plenty of workshops (on topics as diverse as the legal and technical intricacies of squatting and the theory and practicalities of using the independent media), a demonstration and, of course, a free/squat party! Each will take place in such a way as to reclaim public space or celebrate spaces operating free from private ownership, corporate culture and state control. 
KEEN skateboarder ‘Chris’ travels more than 200 miles, all the way from Pontypridd in Wales to use the facilities Manchester has to offer.
“I can understand why people prefer to street skate,” says Paul Harrison, owner of The World Famous Central Skatepark. “The idea of exploring and finding new spots is the whole point.
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