The next Oxford Wheels Project is meeting on Tuesday 16th Feb at 7pm at the East Oxford Community Centre to discuss the design. It will be an informal meeting for park users and we anticipate the meeting will be little more than organised chaos (in the nicest possible way). It's a chance for everyone to make suggestions as to what goes in the park for people to skate and ride on - obstacles- layout etc. so we're expecting lots of heated debate. Come and stick your oar in.

Up until earlier this week OWP were still uncertain as to whether we able to press forward with the possibility of developing our existing site at Meadow Lane. This was due mainly to potential technical issues with the site itself such as the height of the water table, soil contamination and the geological makeup of what's below the surface.  

A series of tests were carried out at the site over Xmas and the results have come back showing no surprises, which is very good news. The results have been run past engineers from a skatepark construction company and the Environment Agency both of which are happy for us to move ahead in earnest into the early planning stages.

Park Design
Oxford Wheels Project will hold an informal meeting with park users, designers and engineers to come up with a design that will best suit the needs of local skaters and BMX'ers.

Environment Agency
Once we have a design that offers the best provision for the users, we then plan to present the design to the Environment Agency to ensure the layout and groundworks of the proposals meet their requirements. This could take a little to-ing and fro-ing with the EA ,and we are confident a solution will be found.

Public Consultation
With a design in hand that satisfies users and the Environment Agency we will hold a public consultation with residents from the Meadow Lane area to ensure they are fully up to speed before anything reaches planning application stage. At this point we'll be dealing with issues such as park usage, sound, landscaping , aesthetics etc and develop the plans appropriately.  We've a very good relationship with our neighbours and we hope that proposals will continues to enjoy the support of the residents in the area.

Planning Application
A little way off yet. As a priority we plan to have everyone in the area fully aware of the proposed developments for Meadow Lane before anything is submitted for planning.

The next Oxford Wheels Project is meeting on Tuesday 16th Feb at 7pm at the East Oxford Community Centre to discuss the design. It will be an informal meeting for park users and I anticipate the meeting will be little more than organised chaos (in the nicest possible way). It's a chance for everyone to make suggestions as to what goes in the park for people to skate and ride on - obstacles- layout etc. so we're expecting lots of heated debate.

You are of course more than welcome to come along - it will be fun. I just wanted to make clear that this stage of the design process is about the content of the park, not the visual, acoustic, environmental issues that are more pertinent to your constituents - they will have a chance to voice their opinions in the near future. Once we have a successful park design that satisfies the Env. Agency we will take this to the residents and the council.

Righty ho. Fingers crossed we will have the funding in place to resurface the ramps for 2010. We're hoping to get it sorted for Easter.
Which means the old surface has got to come off but before we do we may as well wreck it. With that in mind we should have BMX a jam - pegs on and everything.
Anyone of you dirty Mexicans want to get this together? Give us a shout if you're up for it and we'll get things moving.

There is lots of news flying around about Meadow Lane getting a concrete replacement for the decaying ramps. This would be lovely but plleeeease keep your hair on. We are still waiting on engineers reports from the site. A series of tests have been carried out to identify exactly what is underneath the skatepark , what the soil is made up of, where the water table sits etc. All of these factors will have an effect on the final design and cost of the park.
Hopefully we should have something back in the next week or so

Came as a bit of a surprise to say the very least. Oxford City Council has agreed to assist OWP funding a skatepark in Oxford to the tune of £50,000.
Marvellous news indeed. The full story is covered on the Oxford Mail website right here
And there is of course the added bonus of getting the cheeky chops of Killers Kilpatrick in the local press.

Truck Festival 2009 was a big success, loads of hard work but well worth the effort. It was the first time a miniramp had been set up at the festival and it went down a storm.
Set up in the new Boxford field alongside the crew from Fresh Out The Box the ramp saw loads of good skating, graffiti, drunk dads having a go and all round hilarity.
Check the pics in the gallery for a giggle. Thanks to every one invovled for such a great weekend.


If you're looking for news on the developments with the new skatepark for Oxford, you're going to have to sit tight for a little while. We have been very busy getting things together, we will
have some news for you in the next couple of weeks. So remember to keep you're eyes open for details of the next meeting where our plans for world domination will be revealed.

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Been chatting to the organisers of Truck Festival and have confirmed that OWP will be running a mini-ramp at the event on the 25th and 26th of July. We'll be based next to long time bum chums Fresh Out The Box and their outdoor stage. It is going to be vvvvvvery amusing. More news to follow as we sort our lives out.

Got there in the end. Pictures of the jam are up in the gallery at last . It was such a good day, LOADS of people showed up , the sun put his hat on and everyone had an excellent afternoon.
Neddy of Nothing But The Shire fame has been kind enough to chop up a quick edit of some of the action from the event, check the video. 360 nose grab over the spine n everyfink. Don't get many of those to the pound..



More Skateboarding >>

We're taking a gamble with the weather and having a BBQ and Skate jam at the ramps on Saturday April 4th, your presence is mandatory. We've got a stack of goodies up for grabs from Nike SB, Indy, Chocolate, 4 Star, Skull Candy, Volcom and of course SS20. The comps will take a shambolic "get on the ramps and have giggle" format . There will be prizes for best run, Best trick on / over / across various bits of the ramp.As always the event will feature controversial decisions from the judges and they will rarely be final.Come along and have skate and you're bound to walk away with something. Most likely a limp.
Young Neddington of Nothing But The Shire fame is also threatening to give stuff away if someone lands a flip trick over the spine. Some one clean him out.We've got the dodgy-as-all-hell sound system pumping out an incredible 50 watts of music power, the magic OWP Gnar-B-Que and there will be plenty graffiti going on around the site.We're kicking off at around 1pm and will go until around 6ish. Of course we are at the mercy of the Great Brisith weather. If the weather is looking like it could be sketchy, check back here and we'll give you the latest update on the event...

Anyone out there got some graffiti pics they want uploading? We'll host them up here in the graf gallery for you. Pretty sure there are tons of images out there hiding on hard drives, send them to OWP and we'll get them up in the gallery.

Jam on Saturday April 4th

Yes, ladies and gentlefolk we're having a knees up.To celebrate the clocks going back and evenings getting longer, we're having a mini-ramp jam and BBQ down the ramps. You can expect death defying stunts, mind boggling skill and wholesale incompetence.We'll have a sound system playing what ever is on Zac's Ipod, the legendary OWP Death Barbeque and possibly even some decent skating. No doubt followed by a debauched evening on the Cowley Road somewhere...Pencil it into your diaries now.

while you're here, check out the Nothing But The Shire blog for updates on Neddy's impendiing movie

OWP is going to apply for the lease for the skatepark Cowley Marsh. A statement of intent has been sent to the council outlining the terms of the lease and since then we've heard nothing back.
The outcome is most likely to be "No" along with lots of blustering from councillors which is fun to watch. So for the sake of completion we're going to take the lease to the Cowley Area Committee. As you probably know they have been opposed to the skatepark from the outset, even in the face of overwhelming local support. The reason why has never been given. We have pressed them for a decent reason as to why they oppose the skatepark and they simply haven't given a valid answer. So , to tie this whole thing up, we ask for the lease, they say "No, please ,please please go away" And once again we ask "Why?" and keep asking until we are satisfied they have a reason to turn it down. You never know, they might have a reason by now.....but we doubt it. You'd think that after 2 years they might have even come up with a decent lie. So we soldier on. Ho Ho Ho.

By crikey Oxford has some good skateboarders. A quick trawl through the tubes has dug up a load of clips. If you happen to have any footage you want uploaded, give us a shout and we'll stick it up here.
Video clips are here if you fancy a nose

Tags: oxford skateboarding

Yes, that's right folks. Here it is- a shiny and wonderful new blog for your eyeballs. Here you shall be kept up to date with the very latest news and events n stuff that is OWP related. And more than likely some stuff that isn't.

The OWP has been campaigning the council for over 15 years for a decent skatepark....the Oxford City Council hasn't come up with the goods. Where as most councils would positively embrace a charity supporting young people and sporting activity, Oxford City Council doesn't quite see it that way.

I'll keep you posted with developments and snippets of our history as we go. You simply won't believe the crap we put up with.
Thanks for checking in.....