SKATERS and BMX riders are celebrating the collapse of plans to build over a historic skatepark.

Harrow Council had wanted to bulldoze Harrow Skatepark, in Christchurch Avenue, to make way for a replacement to Harrow Leisure Centre, but the project fell victim to the country’s declining economy.

The plan was to sell land in and around the site of Harrow Leisure Centre, in Christchurch Avenue, to fund a new building, and a replacement skatepark, but with house prices dropping the council could not get the money it needed.

James Hitchcox, a BMX rider and vice president of Harrow Skatepark Users Group, said: “It’s brilliant. I’m just absolutely over the moon. I hope it stays there for another few years and they don’t say we’ve got a bit of money now we can knock it down.”

The proposals were the flagship project of the Tory administration but its collapse is good news for people who use the site.

They say 1970’s concrete parks like this one are no longer made and to knock it down would be to lose an important part of the history and culture of the sport.

Nick Zorlack, head of Harrow based Death Skateboards, said: “Good old credit crunch. My only problem is that I wasted a year of really long and quite stressful meetings about signing a company to build a new park and saving the old one.

“Surely they knew about this a while ago. I’m a bit disappointed with that but I’m really happy that the skatepark stayed and who knows, maybe they’d have knocked it down sooner if we hadn’t protested.”

When the project was first announced the Harrow Times website was inundated with comments by skaters and BMX riders from across the world calling for the park to be saved.

It is one of only two left in the country built in the old 70s style and for many of Harrow’s professional skaters and BMX riders it was the start of their career.