Quick progress has been made on the campaign to refurbish the Richard Taylor Memorial Skatepark.

Richard Colbourne started the petition last week, feeling that it not only posed safety issues, but it was also "shameful" to let the park, established in Richard Taylor's memory, to degrade.

In the days since, Richard has connected with the designer and the company that installed the park, both of which have offered to help once more and the petition has reached 1,940 signatures.

"It has just snowballed beyond what I could have imagined," said Richard.

"I think the response is testament to Rich's legacy and how much he did mean to the town.

"Steve from 'Fearless Ramps', who originally upgraded the park, is coming down from England to assess the structural integrity. It didn't take any persuading," he said.

Scott Wilcox, a friend of Richard Taylor's who designed the current park has also offered to help out.

"He was always a bit of an artist, and I don't think he could have designed it any better. Everybody says the appeal of the place is the layout, which is Scott's work.

"After the assessment we'll know how much we're looking at. I was talking to the boys, and they're very keen to see a concrete skate park.

"You're talking a six-figure number for that, it's a lot of money. There are grants out there, we just need to research what's available.

"The way we see it, there's a lot of concrete parks in South Wales alone, the funding must come from somewhere," he said.

Richard said the benefits of a concrete park include easier maintenance and reduced noise levels.

"If the council had to go down there and patch it up, rather than get professionals in to reskin it, it's quite easy for them to just smooth some concrete over," said Richard.

"The ramps that are there at the moment are sort of wooden and hollow, like bass boxes. So, when you've got kids down there six o'clock at night doing backflips on their scooters, it makes a lot of noise.

"From what I hear the locals don't really like it. So, if we could offer a quieter alternative, I think that might be a selling point," he said.

Speaking on the popularity of the sport, Richard hopes that the refurbishment could help produce local talent much like Richard Taylor himself.

"It seems to me now a skate park should be a standard in every town. Skating is not going to go anywhere anytime soon. It's been around for decades, and slowly grown in popularity," said Richard.

"It's an international sport and I think it should be recognized as a serious sport. It's not just for kids.

"Maybe we ought to consider having proper venues like we've got with Cardiff International Whitewater, and things like that.

"They want to produce sort of Olympic-level athletes, so then you need to give them the equipment.

"You never know, if this happens maybe one day we might produce another champion," he said.