BACK in 2002 a group of forward-thinking Settle youngsters who wanted some facility in town for themselves and their peers brought an idea to the town council.

They wanted a skate park where they could ride their skateboards and bikes safely. They were willing to help fundraise.

Little could they have imagined that they would be grown up and many have children of their own before that dream was realised.

Despite the town council being in favour of a skate park, siting it was quite a different matter. It couldn’t be too near residential properties, but also could not be too remote for safety reasons.

The land it would be on had to be town council owned as previous suggestions had been met with objection.

The matter was raised several times over the years, the last in 2016 but the same problems arose. Then Covid happened and all went quiet again. However, things were happening under the surface and such a facility is now about to happen.

Contractors began preparing the Bond Lane site this week and it is expected the skate park - now called a pump track - should be ready for use at the end of May.

Now the children of those original youngsters will be able to fulfil that original ambition.