A council looks set to spend £30,000 to install a huge 15-metre high net to protect a skatepark after realising it will be built too close to a cricket pitch.

Heathervale skatepark, in New Haw, was granted planning permission earlier this year but it soon became apparent that the risks posed by the adjacent cricket club were too great.

Independent studies found a well hit shot could easily clear the boundary and hit skaters. 

To fix the problem Runnymede Borough Council looked at a host of options – from doing nothing and letting the chips fall where they may, to cancelling the cricket season for a year to move the wicket away from the ramps, but closer to homes.

In the end it has agreed to install a huge net that will stretch to almost 40 metres around the new park.

The skate park has been a long-running issue, and one the council pledged to get done after losing a similar facility in near-by Aviator park.

That determination added pressure on the Thursday, January 15 community services committee to push through a recommendation that would ensure it got built before Runnymede Borough is dissolved.

Cllr Dom Whyte, joint leader of Runnymede Borough Council said: “As a council we made a commitment to our residents some time ago that we would deliver a skate park.

“I think this is a good solution and fully support the, regrettable but necessary, cost.”

Concerns over the maintenance costs and liability to vandalism were raised, as was whether fencing was in fact overkill.

Others suggested it would create its own health and safety risk with people attempting to scale the netting. 

Officers told the meeting the council had a duty of care. 

He said: “We are taking a definite and deliberate decision to put a skatepark five metres next to the boundary of a pitch.

They added: “Were we  to proceed, and we put up some signs, and within 30 minutes a child gets hit on the head, the skate park would close immediately.

“And if ever there were a subject where I want to make sure we got everything covered as we possibly can (this was it).

“We don’t want to get into a situation where the council invested money and as quick as we’ve managed to get it built we’ve closed it again.

“At the best part of a quarter of a million pounds for a skate park we want to make sure that it is enduring.

“In terms of ‘are we overstating the (safety netting) need’ I think we would only ever know whether we overstated the need if we didn’t proceed and something happened. 

“And that’s the problem, I can’t tell you whether any ball will hit the net, but I’m sure we will hear about it if it hit a child.”

Cllr Pippa Tucker-Brown (Conservative: Woodham and Rowtown) said : “The people that go to this park, it’s a really good cross-section of the community and they do monitor each other.

“People are dying for this (skate)park. 

“ They talk about it a lot. Let’s go for it. We just haven’t got time on our side.”