A TOWN centre skatepark could be open as soon as June after a preferred site was confirmed by council leaders.

A car park to the east of Dawes Street, off Great Moor Street, is likely to become the £75,000 park which town hall bosses agreed to build following a campaign by local youths.

Council leader Cllr Cliff Morris said work could begin within weeks if the site is approved by planning chiefs and youngsters who have been consulted about the scheme.

The announcement of the site is a major victory for teenagers who spearheaded the fight for a new place to skate.

Town hall bosses their intention to build a skate park in February but the site was closely guarded secret until today.

Cllr Morris said Dawes Street had been the front runner of a number of sites.

"It could be open as soon as June if everything goes to plan," he said.

"This site is in the town centre which is exactly what the young people wanted and we have looked very closely at what has been done in other towns.

"The site will have to go through the same process as any other development but the feedback we've had so far is that people are happy that there will be a town centre skatepark."

A report outlining the scheme and the preferred site will go before the council's executive for consideration on April 16.

Fifteen-year-old Joe Cowie, of Ripon Avenue, Heaton, launched the campaign for a skatepark last year after reading in The Bolton News that £50,000 was to be spent on railings to keep teenagers away from the town hall steps.

Youngsters were left with nowhere to skate after the closure of Bones skatepark and have been forced to make trips as far a field as Wigan to skate.