Leigh-on-Sea skatepark

Leigh-on-Sea Skatepark is a large concrete skatepark on Two Tree Island, close to Leigh-on-Sea station and the Thames Estuary. The site has a long history within the local skateboarding scene, with the legendary Rampage Skatepark once standing nearby before closing in the late 1990s. The current skatepark was significantly upgraded in 2020 through a community-led project involving Leigh-on-Sea Town Council, local skateshop June Store and Betongpark. Betongpark initially donated its design expertise, helping the community find a way to transform the existing, deteriorating prefab park without having to replace everything from scratch.

Rather than simply building a completely new skatepark, Betongpark reimagined the existing structures and incorporated them into the new design. The extension added a mixture of street and flow obstacles, creating a hybrid plaza. Existing prefab elements were given new lives, including a former vert wall transformed into a whippy quarter pipe with pool coping, while new China banks were blended into existing flatbank hips.

The second stage of the redevelopment focused on the bowl. The old, mellow bowl had become worn and slow, so it was effectively rebuilt within the original bowl structure to create a faster, whippier pool-style bowl.

The resulting park combines transition and street skating, with a kidney-shaped bowl, quarter pipes, flatbanks, hips, hubbas, ledges, rails and a variety of interconnected lines. The layout offers something for different abilities, from smaller transitions and open areas for beginners to more demanding bowl and street features for experienced riders.

The redevelopment was strongly community-driven. Local skaters, June Store, Leigh-on-Sea Town Council, local businesses, volunteers and donors all contributed to the project. An Enovert Community Trust grant helped fund the extension, while local contractors and volunteers provided additional labour, equipment and support.