THE team behind a scheme to create a bike and skate park in Cockermouth is delighted to have been chosen as the community project for a town programme.

Cockermouth Bike & Skate (CB&S) has been selected as the community project for Centre for Leadership Performance (CfLP)'s #ProjXregeneration programme with Cockermouth Secondary School students.

CB&S chairman Sarah Stephens described it as 'a significant boost'.

"The ProjX programme provides a unique opportunity to inspire young people to learn new skills and explore a wide range of interests through work on real world issues in real time whilst enabling them to explore a variety of careers," she said.

It is funded through Sellafield Ltd’s SiX social impact programme which prioritises projects co-created with the community and stakeholders while recognising that more can be achieved in partnership.

ProjX was delivered by the CfLP in partnership with local businesses Tetra Tech, Balfour Beatty Kilpatrick, Geo Environmental Engineering, 4Play Cycles, Cumbria Community Foundation, National Nuclear Laboratories and BEC.

CB&S committee members outlined the scope at the beginning of the week and returned at the end of the week for the presentation sessions.

"We were truly impressed by the amount of work that the students had undertaken on a wide range of topics which has provided lots of useful resources and focus to how we move forward," said Sarah.

"The young people involved had approached the task in a very professional manner and it was clear to see that they had gained as much from the experience as we have as a community group from their excellent work and the input from the partnership organisations."

CB&S will be reviewing the outputs from ProjX at the next committee meeting at 6pm, on July 31, in the CfLP offices in Cockermouth Town Hall.

Anyone who wishes to support the scheme is welcome to attend.

The committee is aiming to start community engagement surveys in September and move forward on the viability assessments of potential sites.

The group, which has a Facebook page, is still open to any offers of land within Cockermouth for the development.