It has been confirmed that the recent graffiti work on the skate park was carried out once youth discovered council had put money aside and approached the primary school to paint the park without consulting them. Instead of the dolphin and seahorse images they believe would be put on the park local teenagers would like to pick out their own designs.

“It depends on the painting, if it is what the youth want then they won’t graffiti it,” youth representative on the Skate Park Committee, Martin Jones said.

Professional graffiti images are “pretty cool,” Daniel White said. Daniel, like most of the youth in the town, is a frequent visitor to the park.

The completion of the skate park has brought a lot of interest into the town, giving youth a place to hang out and somewhere for them to go other than the beach.

However if they are not consulted on the painting then they have said they will graffiti the park. Two local artists have approached the Skate Park Committee and offered to help locals paint the park with images asked for by those who use the park most often.

The Skate Park Committee is fundraising for the completion of the park and to upgrade the toilets, add seating, bins and a bubbler.

However if vandalism on the park continues then the committee will stop raising the funds to fully complete the park.

“A lot of people have helped raise funds for the park,” Skate Park Committee coordinator Catherine Telfar said.

The park went quite awhile without vandalism, it didn’t happen until council pledged money to have the park painted and the youth thought the images would be dolphins and seahorses.

“The major priority is getting stage one completely finished,” councillor Len Roberts said.

Stage one was decided with the initial youth group and involved the first set of blocks and the beautification of the park.

Council and state rules and regulations are being taken into account during the process and currently meetings are being organised for discussion and to get the community involved.

“This was just scribble graffiti; the graffiti can be used as artwork,” Cr Roberts said.