St. Albans Outdoor Activity Park (SOAP) There are many wonderful parks and open spaces in St. Albans and the surrounding district with purpose-built recreation apparatus. Much of the apparatus is only geared towards the smaller child or toddler. The recent upgrade of the Verulam play area has notices disqualifying any over 10’s from participating. There is little outdoor, free to use, nonorganised recreation for preteens, teens and young adults. This is a large demographic not catered for with nearly the right amount of opportunities. Attempts at trying to create a space for pre-teens, teens and older has been limiting as it is usually single use does not provide much in the way of creativity or imagination.
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After the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo where British skateboarder Sky Brown won a bronze medal there has been an uplift of participants of wheeled sports especially by females. This demonstrates the power of positive roles models for getting young people active. This legacy needs to be built upon by constructing a concrete built Activity Park that adds to the diversity of the Health & Leisure portfolio of the city and the surrounding area. The Activity Park needs to be open and free to use for all the community of the district of St. Albans. It is envisaged that the Activity Park is an all-inclusive area to cater for all wheel sports such as BMX, WCMX, scootering, skateboarding, roller skating and in-line skating. Wheeled sports generally are quite affordable. Skateboards themselves cost between £30-£150 and often need little maintenance or other equipment.
