A PARISH council has had to hand back nearly £30,000 in grant funding after its plans for a skateboard park were rejected by a local charity.

North Weald Parish Council had carried out a consultation with local youths who had recommended that the Memorial Playing Field be used for the facility, and £27,800 was successfully gained from Essex County Council to fund the project.

Now that money has been handed back after the Queens Hall Charity, which owns the field, refused permission citing unacceptable noise levels for nearby residents.

Parish council chairman Cyril Hawkins said: “I just feel that everybody has been looking forward to this and it's a great opportunity missed by the people of North Weald. Our clerk put in a lot of her own time on the project. We feel the youth worked hard, our clerk worked hard and it's a missed opportunity.”

Queens Hall secretary Bob Wood said: “The charity were very reluctant to say no, but when we investigated the guidelines there's various recommendations.

“There's been a number of noise abatement orders on other skateboard parks where they've been within 200 metres of local residents. The area of the playing field would be possibly 20 metres.

“We did a consultation with residents in the local streets and it was split. We had about 60 responses and it was 30 for and 30 against, but those against were more local to the facility.

“The reasons for needing it were not site specific reasons. Another site might be more acceptable. We'd like to see the facility somewhere. We made two suggestions- Weald Common, and Merlin Way by the entrance to the airfield.”

Mr Wood added there would be no room to expand a potential skatepark on the Memorial Playing Field.