Skaters have warned an army of children and graffiti artists will soon be roaming Oxford's streets unless a site for a purpose-built park is found in the city.

A row has blown up over how noise is hampering city skaters, who are represented by the Oxford Wheels Project in their bid to build a concrete facility in Cowley Marsh.

The ageing and temporary wooden park in Meadow Lane is set to close later this year and cannot be expanded because it is in a flood plain.

But disagreements between council environmental health staff and a noise control expert is damaging progress.

Oxford City Council drafted in specialist noise consultants Alan Sanders Associates to carry out a noise survey because it did not have the necessary equipment - and now the Town Hall is at odds with their findings.

Mr Sanders, who was instrumental in closing the controversial Aristotle Lane skate park, backed the Cowley Marsh scheme. He said: "If I thought there was a problem with this I would say - I get paid either way. I don't like skateboarding but I have to be professional about this and I think it will be fine."

But environmental health manager Trevor Dixon said he had "cause for concern" about maximum noise levels.

The Town Hall broadly supports the creation of a permanent skate park but both parties have now been told to go away and "bang their heads together" in a bid to resolve the issue.

OWP points out the Cowley Marsh site would be 180 metres away from the nearest housing - three times that of the Meadow Lane site.

Jack Richens, chairman of OWP, said: "Everyone says 'we will support you in principle' but they don't want kids or skaters in their area.

"Many think skaters are drug-crazed lunatics, but we have proved we can work in harmony with the community.

"It's clearly an excuse. Sound is the best way of scuppering the proposals.

"This is the last year of Meadow Lane. As soon as it closes, 180 kids and 30 graffiti artists will be on the streets - that's not a threat, that's the reality. They have nowhere to go."

Meanwhile, city council leisure bosses have been instructed to conduct a more thorough survey after it was revealed they based their claim that 51 per cent of residents favoured the skate park on the back of just 58 responses.

In all, 706 households were given the opportunity to respond, but only 648 did.

City councillor Sid Phelps, the chairman of the authority's environment scrutiny committee, said two professionals contradicting each other "smacked of the Osney Island willow trees debacle" in which residents complained about trees being felled on safety advice.

He added: "Cowley Marsh would appear to be an appropriate site within the city", but added "we need to make sure the public are aware of what is going on - we need to be totally confident about this."