I AM writing with regards to your article in last week's paper about the threatened future of the planned skate park in Elthorne Park.

Three years ago, the same group that has been spearheading the opposition to this facility, some of them Labour activists, was behind the opposition to the multi-use game area in Churchfield recreation ground.

The extensive public consultation which was conducted at that time for the MUGA was in favour of that facility, just like the one for the skate park.

The reasons put forward by the opponents of that scheme were not dissimilar to the ones that have been used for the skate park: 'Churchfield Park is in a predominantly middle-class area and therefore this facility would not be appropriate there.

'It will be located away from the road and will be more likely to attract noise and disruption and become a magnet for anti-social behaviour.'

To date, no such problems have been reported there and this facility is enjoyed by the many young and not so young residents using it.

As for the other reasons put forward in relation to Elthorne Park, such as it being too small to

accommodate a skate park, one must admit that they are rather weak.

At last week's Hanwell Carnival it accommodated around 15,000 people, plus an extensive fairground, nearly 100 stalls, two entertainment enclosures and there was still room left over.

With regards to the 'more urban setting' required for skateboarding, Elthorne Park is in Ealing, a London borough, not in the middle of a desert or a jungle.

The opponents of this scheme have also said that they are not in principle opposed to a skate park - just to its location.

This is again the same NIMBY attitude used for the Churchfield's MUGA and will accompany this scheme wherever one decides to put it.

Elthorne Park was chosen because of its location.

In the borough-wide consultation, which took place three years ago in all Ealing schools, the west of the borough was identified by the children as being the area most in need of this facility.

It is also close to the base of the West London Skateboarding Club.

In the north of the borough, Greenford and Northolt skaters already use the Harrow facility; those living in the east use the one in White City.

Let's hope the present administration, in making a decision, will use common sense, rather than political ideology when it revisits this scheme.

If they do, then they will see that Elthorne Park is the appropriate place for this much-needed and wanted facility, which, most important of all, has received support from 67 per cent of local residents.

In a democratic system, it is the will of the many, not that of the few, that should prevail!

ROSA POPHAM via email