Skaters in Highworth might soon be pulling off gnarly ollies, heel flips and grinds on their doorstep.

Currently they face having to travel miles to Swindon, Cirencester or Faringdon.

But the 30-odd year wait for a skatepark in the town might be drawing to a close.

The town council has put in an application to build one at the recreation field off The Elms, near the boundary with Swindon Road.

And if approved, it will be suitable for skateboarders, scooter riders, inline skaters and BMX riders.

Mark Saunders is a skater and one of the team behind the plan, called SN-Six.

The group has already raised most of the £100,000 needed to built the park, and hopes to win grants to make up the shortfall.

He said: “People have been trying to get a park here in Highworth for about 30 years, maybe more. Every 10 years or so, a group of kids will approach the council trying to get one built.

“We wanted to try and get one years ago, when we were young, and it never happened.

“So now this looks like it’s going to happen, It’ll be much better.”

Mark, now 45, still skates and often takes his seven-year-old son with him: “We go to Cirencester or Faringdon. I’m not quite as agile or as bulletproof as I was between 10 and 18, but we’ll both definitely be going.”

The park’s layout will be built by Maverick Industries and features a halfpipe at one end, and has a rail and a ledge. It also features lower ramps and tables on its broad expanse of concrete nearly 28 metres long by 10 metres wide

Highworth town councillor Nick Gardiner has been part of the team supporting the project.

The park will be built on land the town leases from Swindon Borough Council, and the application for permission to build it has been lodged.

He said: “The design of these things has moved on since the 90s.

"If people are just used to a high half-pipe, modern parks are at a much lower level. This will be suitable for kids on boards, and scooters. As a father of two eight-year-olds I’d be much happier with them using this park than some bigger older ones. I take them to Faringdon at the moment, so to have this right here in town will be great.”

Director of skate park specialists Maverick Industries Mark Clogg said the cost of the park would come in at about £100,000 and that the construction would take about eight weeks from start to finish.