Plans for a skatepark in Port St Mary have provoked several objections from residents.

An application (17/01165/A) for a skatepark is the next stage in a proposal for a facility in the village which has been on the table for years.

It was first suggested by Scoill Phurt le Moirrey and picked up by Ray Lakeman, whose two boys Jacques and Torin, then aged 20 and 19, died of a drug overdose in 2014.

Late last year the local authority asked residents living near the proposed site - by the playground near the golf course - about the proposal.

Residents raised several issues including: Do parents realise it will be unsupervised? Who will be liable when a child is injured? It will stop children from playing football there. Why not site it at a less well used area? Why not join with Port Erin and put it on land by Rushen school? How many can it sustain if children come from Port Erin? Fears were raised about ’bullying and fights’.

One resident felt the plan had not been thought out properly, saying ’no skatepark should be near residential buildings, and when it is for younger children unsupervised’.

Another wrote the road cannot cope with more traffic, it has potholes and is already very busy with residential traffic, people visiting the park and recycling. Other schools have skateboarding clubs providing monitored and safe skating, perhaps Scoill Phurt le Moirrey should do the same?