The City Skate Park closed today for a month-long site survey ahead of the construction work set to commence at the North Tce location next year.

The park will re-open on Tuesday, September 9 and remain open until February 2015, when the Adelaide City Council’s lease expires. After this time the site will be demolished to make way for an expansion of the new Riverbank redevelopment and biomedical precinct.

As reported in June, the council requires $3 million from the state government to fund a new site.

Greens MLC and City Skate Park campaigner Tammy Franks launched a petition earlier in the year to secure funding in the 2014/15 state budget. Franks told Rip It Up today the lack of funding allocation will now mean a period of time with no skate park in the city.

“The government said back in June it would be premature to allocate funding, which is outrageous because it means there will be a period of time now without a skate park. It would take five months to construct a new park and that’s speaking conservatively, discarding weather events.”

Ms Franks has also taken to Twitter to urge Premier Jay Weatherill to allocate funding.

Adelaide’s skate park closed for construction today despite promises to #sk8relocate made by @alpsa – it’s time to #getyourskatesonjay!

— Tammy Franks MLC (@TammyMLC) August 11, 2014

Attorney General and Minister for Planning John Rau issued a statement this afternoon hinting at future funding from the state government, but there is still no word on whether they will allocate the $3 million required by the council.

“There will be a new permanent home for skaters, but we have to make sure it is in the right place. The discussion about exact location is continuing, there is more work to be done to assess which is the best location and we need to make sure it fits within the surroundings. The State Government will commit some funding, and I understand the city council will also contribute and possibly some other sources.”

The ACC has revealed to Rip It Up plans to expand a future skate park to incorporate other sports and outdoor activities.

“The relocation of the skate park will allow the design to be revisited to consider a skate plaza,” General Manager of City Planning and Design David Chick explained.

“This could include incorporating other activities such as basketball, beach sports and parkour to create a larger activity hub. Council has some funding set aside through our Park Lands for further investigation of Park Lands initiatives generally, and we are continuing to work closely with the state government to identify and confirm a suitable location for the new skate park. With the recent announcement of CE for Renewal SA we are now hoping to ramp up these talks.”