RESIDENTS have defended a new skateboard area which is to be installed in Princes Risborough.

The town council held an extraordinary meeting last week to give people a chance to have their say on the scheme and since the meeting, some residents have told the Free Press it would be wrong to deny skateboarders their own area despite differences over where the facility should be sited. It is to be put on the King George V Playing Fields.

Clare Newton, of Highfield Road, said the fields were an ideal place for teenagers to play safely while being near enough to keep an eye on.

She said teenagers in the town had an undeserved reputation when all most wanted was an area they could skate in without disruption.

Mrs Newton added that King George V playing fields was ideal in allowing teenagers to play safely while being near enough to be kept an eye on.

Teacher Jane Stidston, of Clifford Road, said the teenagers had set up a petition and around 20 had turned up to the meeting to let their views be known.

She added: "If they can be bothered to go to the meeting, they deserve a facility."

Chairman of the town council John Coombs said: "It's very heartening to see so many taking an interest in the town and for them to give their evening to discuss a subject close to their heart."

But resident Brian Simpkin said the skatepark could be sited in Wades Park.