WORK has started on a skate park in memory of a much-loved Whitehaven teenager.

Kie Park – created in memory of Kieran Goulding – is being built on land next to Cumbria Sports Academy, Hensingham, and contractors moved onto site on Monday.

It is hoped the £250,000 facility for skateboards, scooter and BMX bikes will be open in time for the summer holidays.

The Friends of Kie Park group, including Kieran’s mother Tracey Nicholson and a number of his friends, have worked tirelessly on the project since 15-year-old Kieran’s tragic death in 2010.

Stephen McDowell, chair of Friends of Kie Park, said: “It has taken four years of really hard work by a lot of people to get where we are today – and it is really great to have started the work in earnest.

“We hope that the kids of West Cumbria will get many years of enjoyment from the facility and we think we have a park that will be the envy of the whole county.”

The Friends of Kie Park have raised around £20,000 of the total through a number of well-supported events.

Further funding has come from groups including Whitehaven Town Council, Copeland Community Fund, WREN, Home Group and Nuclear Management Partners.