SECTION 2

Community Mapping & Engagement

2.1 Engagement Methods

The engagement strategy is designed to reach the actual user community — past 5 Bridges regulars, current Gateshead skaters, and the wider regional scene — using a mix of methods weighted toward digital reach, with face-to-face interviews for depth and a drop-in event for breadth.

Online survey

A 43-question survey covering usage patterns at 5 Bridges, impact of closure, replacement priorities, site preferences, and demographics. The survey was hosted on Google Forms and distributed via QR code, Instagram, Facebook, skater networks, and partner organisations. Design targeted 200+ responses and closed with 134.

Stakeholder interviews (Phase 2)

15–20 semi-structured interviews with skaters across age, ability, and geography, plus key scene stakeholders (coaches, shop owners, event organisers, long-standing community figures), proposed for a Phase 2 if the council progresses the project, to go deeper than the survey on motivations, values, and site-specific feedback.

Drop-in event (Phase 2)

A Phase 2 drop-in event at which community members can discuss the study, see the shortlisted sites, and contribute views directly. Feedback will be captured via voting boards, written contributions, and structured conversations.

Why digital-first

Zero printed surveys. This is both an environmental choice and a practical one: QR codes at relevant locations, social-media distribution, and skater networks reach more of the actual target audience than paper ever would, and the data comes back clean and analysable.

2.2 Survey Status

The community survey closed on 27 April 2026 with 134 completed responses over a three-week window (target: 200). The sample spans 52 distinct postcode prefixes covering the full Tyne and Wear conurbation, County Durham, Northumberland, Teesside, and Yorkshire — consistent with the regional draw 5 Bridges had as a covered facility.

Detailed findings are published across the four sub-sections that make up § 2.4 (linked below). Two further engagement strands — stakeholder interviews and a drop-in event — are proposed for a Phase 2 if the council progresses the project (see § 2.5 for the follow-up plan).

The full question list, raw export, analysis script, and structured outputs are held in the project repository and available to the council on request.

2.3 What We're Measuring

The survey and interview instruments are built to produce quantifiable findings against the decisions this report has to make. The main measures:

Community profile & scaleWho used 5 Bridges — age, experience, frequency, travel patterns, postcode origin.

CatchmentGeographic mapping of user origins to quantify the regional draw and inform site selection.

Value driversRanked factors explaining what made 5 Bridges special (covering, plaza/street focus, atmosphere, accessibility, equipment, culture).

Replacement prioritiesWhat must any replacement provide, and what are people willing to trade off.

Delivery preferencesAttitude to phased vs single-build delivery, tolerance for basic Phase 1 in exchange for speed.

Site preferencesReaction to the three shortlisted sites (and willingness to accept trade-offs particular to each).

2.4 Key Findings

The findings are unusually consistent across all six measures. Headline numbers are below; detailed analysis — with charts and pull quotes — is split across four sub-pages.

Headline numbers

134

Completed responses

95%

Rate replacement essential (5/5)

87%

Have not found a working alternative in Gateshead

95%

Willing to travel further for higher quality

80%

Support phased delivery (cover & surface in Phase 1)

85%

Support reusing original 5 Bridges equipment

58%

Want delivery within 12 months

Distinct postcode prefixes (NE, SR, DH, TS, YO)

Detailed findings — four sub-pages

2.4.1 Who responded & where they came from — sample profile, regional catchment, travel patterns, willingness to travel further. Establishes the 52-postcode regional draw and the 95% openness to a non-central site.
2.4.2 What 5 Bridges was — and what closure took — value drivers (cover dominates), how the closure has affected the community, and why existing Gateshead parks haven't filled the gap.
2.4.3 What the replacement needs to be — ranked replacement priorities (the headline finding: town-centre location is the lowest-rated of ten), day-one priorities for a phased Phase 1, equipment reuse, acceptable wait, and the difference a replacement would make.
2.4.4 In their own words — ten anonymised pull quotes with light attribution, plus the recurring themes across the 89 free-text answers.

2.5 Engagement Summary

The findings across § 2.4 are unusually consistent across all six things the survey was designed to test. Six implications carry forward into the rest of the report.

1. Cover is the non-negotiable

Across every relevant question — what people valued, how they used 5 Bridges in bad weather, what alternatives lack, what matters in a replacement, what matters on day one — weather protection is the dominant signal. Any shortlisted option must include covered, all-weather provision in Phase 1. This rules out an open-air new build as a credible Phase 1 option (Option D in § 5) unless paired with a covering plan, and elevates the Stadium phased build, the Askew Road railway arches, and the car-park conversion approach as the only candidates that can credibly deliver covered Phase 1 provision.

2. Town-centre proximity carries less weight than expected

Town centre ranks lowest of ten replacement priorities, and 95% of respondents are willing to travel further for a higher-quality facility. The shortlisted sites are validated — none is in Gateshead town centre, and the survey gives explicit permission for that trade-off. The § 4 evaluation framework should reflect this rather than carry an implicit central-location bias.

3. Existing Gateshead parks do not absorb 5 Bridges users

87% have not found a suitable alternative within Gateshead; the gaps cited are exactly the bundle 5 Bridges provided. § 3's hypothesis is confirmed by community evidence, not methodology alone.

4. Phased delivery has a clear public mandate, with conditions

80% support phased — but the majority are explicit that Phase 1 must include cover and a quality surface. § 5's Phase 1 scope must hold the line on those two attributes, not trade them away for cost or speed.

5. Equipment reuse has an 85% mandate

The original 5 Bridges obstacles are in council storage in good condition and suitable for direct reuse, which lines up directly with the community's heritage / continuity preference for relocating original fittings into the Phase 1 build (see § 3, item 9).

6. Time pressure is real but bounded

58% want delivery within 12 months; only 16% will accept a wait beyond 12 months. The report should commit to a Phase 1 target inside the 12-month window, even if Phases 2 and 3 stretch beyond. A vague timeline will lose the community.

Wider evidence for Context & Need and Recommendations

The engagement also surfaces evidence that should be carried into § 1 and § 7:

Regional catchmentSpans the Tyne and Wear conurbation, County Durham, Northumberland, Teesside and Yorkshire — replacement is not solely a Gateshead borough provision question.

Wellbeing case33% report a mental-health impact and 25% a physical-health impact from the closure; majority replacement outcomes include both.

Public-safety dimension50% are now skating in unsuitable / dangerous locations — a council-funded replacement is a direct mitigation.

Youth & intergenerationalParents and long-time skaters across multiple decades describe 5 Bridges as a third place — a community asset that crossed generations.

Sample limitations and follow-up plan

The survey reached 134 of a 200 target. While the regional spread, depth of free-text response, and consistency of the quantitative signal give the findings strong credibility for the cohorts represented, three gaps remain:

Under-18s are under-represented (n=6, 4.5%) — online distribution reached only a handful of this group.
Female and non-binary skaters are under-represented (16% combined).
Beginners are under-represented (5%) — by design the survey reached current and former users, not prospective users.

Phase 2 follow-up plan:

Short youth-targeted survey via schools and youth services (target: 50+ under-18 responses).
Drop-in engagement event at Gateshead town centre or Quays, with on-site capture.
15–20 stakeholder interviews to deepen specific themes (community organisers, instructors, parents, council officers, neighbouring landowners).
Engagement with under-represented groups via Skateboard GB and Sport England North East networks.

This Phase 2 engagement is contingent on the council greenlighting the next phase of the project — it would proceed only if the council decides to take the study forward and expressly commissions the next stage. Its findings would then be folded into a § 2 update in a future reporting iteration.