Update: This is an early design of what eventually became Sydenham Skatepark. The park opened in February 2018. 

Watch: Real Skateboards demo at Sydenham Skatepark

The City of Sydney has confirmed that a world-class skateboarding facility is set to be constructed at Sydney Park in St. Peters, with council unanimously approving plans for the skatepark at Town Hall yesterday evening. 

In a major coup for the city's long-deprived skateboarding community, the inner-west facility is set to be one of the nation's best, with plans for a "traditional park skate zone suitable for all skill levels and disciplines, featuring a combination of street and bowl style obstacles", including a beginner section, a street plaza and a "flow bowl". 

“This proposed skate space marks another major step in the transformation of Sydney Park from an industrial site some years ago, into a 44-hectare parkland to be enjoyed by tens of thousands of residents,” Lord Mayor Clover Moore said.

“We’ve listened to calls from the city’s skateboarding community who’ve been asking for more skate facilities for some time.

“Not only are we building a new skate space in Sydney Park, we’re including the flow bowl straight away rather than building it in a few years as originally planned. This is a result of extensive feedback we received when consulting with our communities.”

The skatepark is expected to cost $2.5 million, a similar figure to the recently constructed Bato Yard on the NSW Central Coast, and will reportedly be twice the size of the acclaimed Mona Vale Skatepark in Sydney's north. 

Plans for the skatepark, which will be located roughly 4km from the Sydney CBD, were apparently boosted by skateboarding's recent inclusion in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. 

"Our community is rapidly growing. Skateboarding is debuting as an Olympic sport in Tokyo for the 2020 games and we’ve already seen a huge increase in participation rates since that announcement in early 2016", said Cameron Sparkes of the Sydney Skateboarding Association, which has laboured extensively for inner-city skate spaces in the last couple of years. 

Construction of the skate space is scheduled to begin in April 2018 and be completed by mid-2019.

This project would not be possible without the tireless efforts of Cameron Sparkes, Trent Evans, Nigel Cameron and everyone at the Sydney Skateboard Association, along with Councillor Linda Scott, who has graciously and passionately supported skateboarders in Sydney since taking office.

Exciting times ahead for Sydney skateboarding.

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Quotes and info courtesy of the City of Sydney website