A BOLD £300,000 scheme to transform South Park into a community sports village has been hailed as a major leap forward for the town’s youth.

The massive scheme needs final planning approval, but a green light will pave the way for a huge £150,000 BMX and skate park and multi-use games area.

Work has also just started on the pavillion, which is being transformed into a community and youth cafe, acting as a base to staff from the Hub, a youth drop-in service.

The centrepiece of the development, pencilled in for completion by developers Wheelscape at the end of the summer, is a 7,000 sqft concrete skate park, overhauling the current dilapidated facilities.

Councillor Andrew Knowles, MBC portfolio holder for community and wellbeing, said: "This is a great boost for South Park and provides investment for a prominent town centre park.  It can get kids out socialising and exercising because not everyone wants to go to the gym – it’s a major leap forward for the town’s youth."

As well as the skate park, heralded to be one of the best in the north west, the multi-use games area will include a five-a-side football pitch, basketball courts, and tennis courts.

These facilities already exist, but are worn-out and underused. Seven new benches have already been installed around the bandstand and Cherry Tree Walk, and a new picnic area by the pool is due in spring.

The council will work with the Friends of South Park (FSP) to bring about the modernisation programme.

"It will bring people back into the park," said Sally Burgess, 38, chairman of the FSP and a tireless campaigner for the park. We work hard to keep it looking attractive to users and this £300,000 investment will provide a much-needed new focus. We have been nagging the council for something better."

She added: "Parks are for everyone, including young people, and this will hopefully bring them back into what is rightfully theirs." The lion’s share of funding for the project is coming from MBC, with £19,000 from the Partnership for a Safer Borough, grants and central government. But groups such as FSP are also applying for external money to plump up cash reserves for further development.  To get the ball rolling, a public consultation was held at Macclesfield Town Hall on December 10, 2008, in which community organisations, residents and local schools were invited to share their thoughts.

A committee of ten, made up of councillor officers, councillors and community representatives worked with various companies on the design of the park.

The final plans were decided and chosen by the committee on January 26, when the project was put out to tender.

Mark Pinches, 36, of Albert Road, Bollington, was one of the driving forces behind the skate park and leader of www.macc-skate.org, a collection of skateboarders, BMXers and inline skaters.

He said: "We’re delighted, this is the culmination of so much hard work and I believe it will have a knock-on effect for young people because learning a new trick is hard work – it teaches them to stick at it."

Mark’s three-year-old son Coley added: "I can’t wait for the skate park." And police and youth groups have welcomed the plans as a helping hand to the town’s facilities for youngsters.

Ross Thompson is a coordinator at Just Drop In Youth information Advice on Great King Street, Macclesfield. He said: "We’ve got 25 to 30 young people from all backgrounds coming here all day. So, the suggestion is, if we put on activities that are young people friendly, they will respond. South Park is a brilliant venue for something like this. Activities held there in summer have been really well attended."

Inspector Gareth Woods, head of Macclesfield Neighbourhood Policing Unit, said: "I fully support it. People gather if the facilities match the needs of those people. If you have the facilities then it will have a good effect – if there’s a football field then people will go and play football – I can’t praise it highly enough."

The proposals go before MBC’s planning committee in mid-March.