When pupils at Cheam High School pass their local park they wonder how much better it will appear with an array of wooden ramps and jumps.

The freewheeling students have just been given permission to design their own BMX cycle track on overgrown land at Cheam Park.

Ward councillors relented after hearing how the schoolboys, seeking a free ride, had been evicted from roads throughout the area.

The cost of the proposed all-weather track still has to be finalised and residents must give approval before any work gets under way.

Michelle Coker, a mother who met councillors, park rangers and the safer neighbourhood team last week, was encouraged by progress but preparing for a fraught fundraising campaign. With BMX track fans needing to secure about £15,000, Michelle has already planned a sponsored bike ride for later this year.

She said: "This track will stop the boys hanging around the streets and enable them to keep fit and healthy. It also gives them some privacy as youths. They are very excited and have been going there to plan the track they want."

The scheme will be discussed by the local committee for Sutton South, Cheam and Belmont at St Dunstan's Primary School on November 28.

Chairman Councillor Graham Whitham said: "This is just the sort of environmental project Sutton's six new local committees are meant to identify in the areas where people live."

It may also help Britain to join the gold rush at future Olympic Games: BMX makes its debut in Beijing next summer.

If you can help with sponsorship, email mc@michellecoker.freeserve.co.uk.