Young people say Oxford's crumbling skate-park facilities are forcing them to travel out of the county.

Enthusiasts of the sport hit out at Oxford city councillors for not supporting their bid for a new skate park, as they boarded a coach to Northamptonshire on Friday.

About 45 people paid up to £10 each for the three-hour round trip to a skate-park in Corby - saying there was nowhere suitable in Oxford for them to practise.

Oxford Wheels Project chief executive Jack Richens, from Cowley, said: "The ramps that exist at the moment in Meadow Lane are on their last legs.

"We wanted to go out and skate together - and Corby is the nearest place we can do it together.

"The ones at Meadow Lane are made of timber and they are rotting and falling to pieces."

Tom Kilpatrick, 31, of Hernes Road, Summertown, works in the skate shop SS20 in Cowley Road.

He said: "The trip was part of the 20th anniversary celebrations of the shop. The facilities in Oxford are pretty shoddy at the moment."

He added there were concrete skate facilities in Cutteslowe, but they were not big enough for a large group to skate together.

Last Wednesday, members of Oxford City Council's Cowley area committee refused to give their backing to a proposed new skate-park in Cowley Marsh Park, despite receiving 120 letters in support and 28 against.

More than 40 people turned up to hear councillors spend more than an hour mulling over the proposal, which will be decided by the council's strategic development control committee on Wednesday, May 28.

Councillors and some residents were worried about car parking, increased traffic and noise and loss of green space.

Mr Richens, 28, said: "I was surprised that none of them mentioned anything positive about the skate-park and none mentioned there was actually a majority of support.

"They turned it down on the grounds it would be noisy, but an independent report has been produced that said it would not be."

Anna Vines, 27, of Cowley Marsh, said: "I have been skating in Oxford since 2000 and it is just so limited.

"Every time we try to do something we get shot down. I am gutted.

"There are a certain few councillors who don't appear willing to budge."

Scaffolder Adam Herbert, 22, of Peregrine Road, Blackbird Leys, said: "We don't cause any trouble."

And BMW worker Alex Smith, 24, of Druce Way, Blackbird Leys, said: "I have got two kids who want to skate and I won't take them to the Iffley ramps because of the splinters.

"There are too many cars for them to skate in the street. It is a sport - it keeps kids fit."