YOUNGSTERS in Kempsey are a step nearer to being given a skateboarding ramp after permission was granted for a storage unit at the Plovers Rise playing fields.

A previous application for a permanent skateboard ramp was turned down by a Malvern Hills planning committee following a storm of objections from local residents.

With permanent secure storage, the village youth club will be able to have a portable ramp, which will only be brought out under supervision.

Residents of Plovers Rise are still worried that the ramp will bring noise and disturbance to the area and will attract people from outside the village, with accompanying problems.

But planning officers said skateboarding could be carried out on the site without the addition of the storage unit and they could not control the items of equipment to be stored in it.

Because the container could deteriorate over time, they recommended that permission be granted for a temporary period of three years.

This was agreed by members of the planning committee.