Controversial plans to convert a concrete space under the Southbank Centre known as the birthplace of British skateboarding into a new arts and events venue have received a setback.
Campaigners trying to preserve the graffiti-daubed undercroft, used by skateboarders and BMX bikers since the Seventies, have won their bid to get Lambeth Council to list it as an “asset of community value”. The Southbank Centre had planned to relocate the skate park to a new site underneath nearby Hungerford Bridge as part of the £120 million redevelopment of their Festival Wing.
But opponents have said relocating the park would be “just as offensive as its destruction in the first place.” The listing status, made under the Localism Act, does not protect the skate park from redevelopment in itself but has huge symbolic value and gives campaigners the legal right to purchase the site if it comes up for sale.
In addition, Lambeth Council can take the listing into consideration when it decides on planning permission for the overall Southbank scheme, which includes refurbishing the three concert halls and adding glass extensions. But a Southbank spokeswoman said: “As there is no intention of selling the undercroft, this decision makes no difference to our plans.” She said they still want to move the skate park.
National Theatre chief Sir Nicholas Hytner has also attacked the plans.
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