NEW blueprints have been submitted for a skate park in Richmond.

Youngsters were devastated when the district council rejected a bid for facilities in Ronaldshay Park by a single vote last month.

Opponents were concerned that the project - fronted by the YMCA but supported by the local authority's own leisure department - would mean moving a kick-about area, which was established in response to public demand.

Neighbours with homes yards from the park were worried a skateboard arena would mean more noise and disturbance and draw troublemakers to the area. However, the fresh application submitted to Richmondshire District Council aims to address all three issues.

"We have moved the location so a kick-about area could remain in Ronaldshay Park while we propose digging into the banking and establishing a mound to both screen the skate park from Quakers Lane and dampen the noise,'' said Richmond's YMCA spokesman Ken Allinson.

However, even if the project is given the go-ahead, construction work is unlikely to begin this year as some of the cash to cover the cost would have to be raised locally.