SALISBURY'S new parkour park is expected to open this summer, the city council has said.

Work on the park started this week at a special groundbreaking ceremony on Monday.

The £50,000 parkour park will be built in Churchill Gardens and will provide the community with a "great opportunity to get outdoors, get active and healthier in a fun and social way".

Funds have come from Sport England – Community Asset Fund, the Landfill Community Trust, Salisbury City Council and Wiltshire Council’s Salisbury Area Board Community grant. The park will be built over the coming weeks for all ages and abilities.

Salisbury Journal:

Salisbury Mayor John Walsh said, “We are delighted to be moving forward with this exciting new facility that will help to meet the targets of the city council’s ‘Ensuring Active Salisbury’ programme as it continues to develop and promote suitable activity/exercise opportunities to all members of the community.”

The decision to look at creating a new parkour park came after interest from a group of young people in Salisbury, who were keen on parkour but had no suitable sites to practise in the area. The idea of parkour is to go from one randomly chosen place or object to another as nimbly as possible. Typical parkour moves include jumping, overcoming and passing under obstacles, climbing and hanging, and some acrobatic moves.

Salisbury Journal:

Originally the idea came from local resident Phillippe Riches. He said: “It has been a long road to secure all the funding since my initial idea. It is great that both Salisbury City Council and Wiltshire Council along with Sport England and the Landfill Trust are supporting this project. I know that young people in Salisbury are going to be as excited as I am!”

An opening event will take place once the park is complete and introductory coaching sessions will be delivered by fully qualified parkour coaches to provide the basic skills needed to use this new facility.

Jerry Kunkler, Wiltshire Council portfolio holder for leisure, said: “This facility will provide an excellent venue for the young people of the city and from across Wiltshire to get involved in a new activity.”