A NEW skateboard park will be unveiled next month in a bid to get teenagers off the streets.

The £45,000 sports facility is being launched on Blindsill Field, Farnworth, on September 12.

It follows a wave of protest from skateboarders that there are no skateboard facilities in Bolton.

The facility, on open land between Ramsay Avenue and Macdonald Avenue, needs a name and teenagers are being asked to think of a suitable title.

It will be packed with specialist equipment including a skate driveway, a grindrail, quarter pipe, hipped quarter pipe, spine jump and grind benches.

And, two professional skateboarders are ready to show off their tricks at the opening to inspire youngsters to use the park.

Farnworth councillor James Lord welcomed the project. He said: "I fully support it and hopefully this will be a kickstart for the area. The area has a lot of potential and this will give children something to do at weekends and evenings."

He added that the scheme could be the springboard for other facilities like a football pitch and tennis courts.

The launch day will include fun and games for the family, with a live performance by Urban Strawberry Lunch, and a workshop to design a sign for the park.

Graffiti designs will be created by teenagers and sprayed onto walls at the park.

Representatives from the police and fire service are expected to attend the launch event.

In July, council bosses introduced a new bylaw banning skateboarders from the town centre. Skaters now face a £500 if caught skating after a series of near misses with members of the public and damage to stonework in Victoria Square.