I know it isn’t sporting to call foul but I wish Sport England would have given a £60,000 grant towards building a new skate park at Nailsea.

It gave Marlow Rowing Club one million pounds to rebuild its boathouse which was burned down after fire.

I mention this because my home town of Marlow is a much more affluent area and it had its fundraising goal was just a quarter of the £2.35m project cost.

It also had help from the sporting communities of nearby High Wycombe and Henley.

Nailsea Skateboard Project was launched 14-months ago to replace out-of-date concrete ramps at Millennium Park.

Its £60,000 bid to Sport England towards building a new skate park at Nailsea by next summer failed.

Spokesman Phil Williams, of Christian Surfers, said it was a setback although the project has already banked more than half its original £160,000 rebuilding target.

He said: “This obviously is a blow to the team but all involved are convinced that we will be able to replace the skate park in time for summer 2016 as we have a final three months of fundraising before tenders go out to potential skate park builders.”

By slightly modifying some of the features of the new design the fundraisers have given themselves 12-13 weeks to raise a further £20,000.

Phil said: “Unfortunately due to stiff competition from hundreds of other Sport England applications for more than six times the amount of money available we weren’t successful.

“Of course it was a disappointment we were not successful although we were complimented on a really well put together bid but it will not stop us pushing on.

The skate park was a planning gain from Tesco supermarket but is now 14-years-old.

Phil said: “The skate park has seen better days.

“The fantastic news is that during the past 14 months more than £83,000.”

This has been achieved by numerous high profile fundraising including the Tough As Nails cross country marathon organised by community policeman Mark Raby and Trendlewood Community Festival plus business, church, community and council grants.

Phil said: “A project of this size was never going to be easy to deliver, however the team are really excited by the financial commitments already received.

“Monies already committed have included substantial grants from Nailsea Town Council, Holy Trinity and Trendlewood Church, North Somerset Council and from two other community groups, Nailsea Community Trust and COIN.

“These have been supplemented with a large number of donations from individuals and businesses including Tesco, Nailsea Lions and the young people who use the park.”

Nailsea Skatepark project organisers open meeting at Youth House on Thursday evening pictured right.

It was agreed to push on to maximise the amount of money that can raise between now and Christmas  in order to fulfil the dream to have a new concrete skatepark built in time for the skatepark festival and Nailsea showcase on Saturday, July 9, 2016.

Phil said: “Achieving a minimum target of an extra £20,000 will not be easy.

“At the open evening the youngsters were all tasked with coming up with ideas for their own fundraisers, but that alone will not get us to the target.

“In simple terms we have 13 weeks in order to maximise what we can raise to put into a rebuilt skatepark which will last if it is kept well over 20 years.”

Past competitors at the park include  22-year-old  James Threfall an established name on the UK circuit who has just been chosen for the World Skateboarding games .

Already lined up are being part of the community green token scheme at Waitrose during November and at the Christmas market in December.

But Phil warned this won’t be enough and what they are looking at one or two bigger fundraisers.

He added: “I strongly believe that Nailsea and surrounding area can combine together to make this dream a reality, and that the park users can enjoy for many years to come a first class facility, but there is a lot of work to do.

“It's going to be a busy but exciting few months ahead for the project, but the team believe that by ‘working together we can achieve so much more’.”