HELENSBURGH will continue to have a skate park – and it could remain at the town’s waterfront development site after all, according to a council official.

The commitment was made at a public meeting in the town on Tuesday – after a report suggested that the waterfront site was not a suitable permanent location for the facility.

Jackie Hood from the Helensburgh Skatepark Project submitted a public question to a meeting of Argyll and Bute Council’s Helensburgh and Lomond area committee on September 12.

She lodged her question after a report prepared before the committee asked councillors to agree that the waterfront site “was not a suitable permanent location” for a skate park.

In response the meeting was told that the recommendation to councillors was based on a permanent skate park - also capable of being used by BMX cyclists and scooter riders - being built to larger dimensions than the temporary facility which is due to be sited on the waterfront in the coming months.

The report by Kirsty Flanagan, the authority’s executive director with responsibility for the economy and rural growth, asked the committee to agree “that the Waterfront site is not considered to be a suitable long term location for the skatepark as initial marketing of the site has highlighted that the site is not large enough to accommodate a larger scale skatepark which the group are seeking as well as a viable commercial development.”

In her question – read on her behalf by clerk Stuart McLean – Ms Hood asked: “Why has the council chosen to misrepresent and manipulate the views and aspirations of the Helensburgh Skatepark Project in the initial report?

“We have never said that the waterfront site is too small or in the wrong location. The skate park belongs on the waterfront since the masterplan published at the end of 2012.

“The location is the most considerable element, even over size. We have been told that if we remain on the waterfront we will be restricted by the dimensions, even though we refute those dimensions. We wish to remain on what is a perfect site for the skate park.

“The recent allocation of £80,000 [from the authority’s Place Based Investment programme] is very welcome, but the council needs to clarify if this will be spent on a location for a bigger, more ambitious skate park.

“If that is not possible, people need to know that the skate park can remain on the waterfront. I would like it minuted that the Skatepark Project does not agree with the report’s recommendations.”

David Allan, the council’s estates and property development manager, responded: “During discussions with the Skatepark group, they advised that they would like to develop a larger facility to attract visitors.

“That site does not have the capacity for a larger skate park alongside a commercial development, and the report goes on to consider alternative locations.

“These options look to help the group achieve the best outcome possible. If these are not suitable, they will be located at the waterfront, but on a limited scale.”

During later discussion of the report, Mr Allan added: “It might be worth amending the recommendations to say that if there is no suitable area, there will be reinstatement of the skate park.”

Councillor Mark Irvine (Independent, Lomond North) was told it would cost £30,000 to create a temporary skate park on the waterfront site.

Councillor Irvine said: “A lot of members have received multiple emails in the last 48 hours, so it is an emotive subject. There may be one or two objections, but most are very supportive.

“I am a bit confused now in terms of whether the footprint of the temporary skate park is big enough to do what they want to do.”

Mr Allan said: “They had aspirations for a big skate park, which what we are trying to accommodate, but over the last week they have said they would be prepared to consider the reinstatement of the previous facility.

“There is a compromise with location, because there is more space the further out you go. Is it a larger facility further away for the centre, or a smaller one in the centre?”

Councillor Irvine added: “From everything I have read, seen and heard, it seems that it could be a compromise site.”

Mr Allan responded: “That is the ultimate fallback position if there is no alternative.”

Ross McLaughlin, the council’s head of commercial services, said: “Some people think it is a very fitting site, others think it is not fitting for it to be in the town centre.

“It is about trying to consolidate very polarised views, but it will be delivered in some way, in some location.”

Addressing concerns about the recommendation, Mr McLaughlin added: “That was not the intention of how it is worded. We know what the backstop is – there will be a skate park. That is what the town has told us.”