A £250,000 skate and BMX park in Eastleigh, Hampshire, has been officially opened.

Designed with the help of local children, the park – called Freespace – features a half pipe and ramps as well as an adjoining wildlife area for reptiles, deer, birds and insects.

Alan Broadhurst, Eastleigh Borough Council’s cabinet member for leisure, said: “This is the latest in a programme of new sports developments totalling more than £16m since 2000. I’m certain the skatepark will be another success for the borough.”

Freespace was the brainchild of an 11-year-old local boy who wrote to his local MP in 2001 to ask for a park as good as others he had visited. Details: www.eastleigh.gov.uk