FOLLOWING a 15-month long campaign, work on a half-pipe ramp at a recently refurbished skate park is set to go ahead.

After relentless campaigning by skateboarders in the Malton area, Norton Town Council have voted and approved the refurbishment of the half-pipe ramp at Malton and Norton skate park.

The news follows on from the reopening of the skate park earlier this month, after the work was completed by King Ramps, owned by pro skater Pete King. But, local presenter Ryan Swain has also been on hand helping out with the repairs.

Ryan, who spearheaded the campaigns for both the skate park and the half-pipe, said: “Thank you to everyone who attended the meeting and showed their support and have stood by us this since it began.

“Now the hard work begins - and I’m ready to finish this once and for all for the community and beyond.”

This comes 15 months since the campaign was started by Ryan, which has gone on to cause local, regional and national outcry and outrage with the way it has been handled.

The campaign has been backed numerous professional sports stars, such as Tony Hawk, Christian Hosoi, Bucky Lasek and Jamie Bestwick.

Ryan said reopening the half-pipe will put Malton "well and truly on the map" within the action sports community. The ramp, which opened 21 years ago, is thought to be the country's largest. It is the only one in the north and just one of 10 in the country which is free to use.

Mr Swain said he is "excited" to seeing all generations flood through the gates to use the facility once again.

After completing the work on the new skate park in late April, Ryan said: "We’ve been completely refurbishing the skate park, we’ve stripped all of the old ramps back, covered them with new surfaces.

"They took a lot of work, a lot of them were in very poor condition and some of the metalwork and fabrication work was very complex to repair."

A blue plaque has also been put in place at the newly repaired skate park in honour of a "much loved" BMX rider from the area.

The blue commemorative plaque has gone up at Malton skate park to pay tribute Tom Warrington, from the area, who sadly passed away in 2008. Mr Swain requested that the blue plaque was put up in Tom's memory.

"Tom was one of the finest BMX talents to come out of Malton. But above all he was one of the most charming, fun loving, kind-hearted and generous spirits many of us have ever known. Now, a little piece of him will always be flying over us down there," he said.