UPTON’S long-awaited skate park could become a reality as soon as January.

Plans to build the park on Upton Town Council-owned land at the town’s playing fields have been in the pipeline for almost seven years.

The £65,000 funding needed to build the park is in place, and members of the town council’s skate park sub-committee are now waiting on the result of a planning application to Malvern Hills District Council.

The application is similar to a previously approved submission, albeit with a significant change to the proposed location, bringing the site inside the line of a flood-protection bund that is set to be created by the Environment Agency.

As well as affording better protection from flooding this would allow the skate park to be built as a permanent feature, offering an improved riding surface for skaters and cyclists and, potentially, reduced ongoing maintenance costs.

Robert Werner-de-Sondberg, of the skate park sub-committee, said: “If it goes through the planning committee then there should not be anything stopping us from installing it around January.

“We are hopeful of receiving permission, as we have tried as far as we can to meet all the concerns of local residents and statutory parties.”

As well as the skate park itself, designed by world-renowned skater Max Anderson, a meeting shelter would also be installed.

Dr Werner-de-Sondberg said the facilities were “desperately needed” in Upton.

“The young people really do desperately need some sort of facility in the town, and that has been the case for a long time,” he said.

Once installed, the upkeep of the skate park will be the responsibility of Upton Town Council.