The petition was started by Darren Jeyes, owner of Cyclelife bike shop in Wellingborough, and he has already collected 200 signatures.

He said he launched the campaign because the youngsters who use his shop constantly complain they had nowhere to ride their BMXs.

Mr Jeyes said: "BMXing is a big thing at the moment, and it is a problem because the lads are forced to use places like Morrisons car park and places like that. This upsets people if they are nearly getting knocked over by kids on BMXs, and it's dangerous.

"I have children coming in and they are constantly moaning about it."

Currently the only places Wellingborough BMXers can use are Ise Lodge in Kettering and Adrenaline Alley in Corby. There are skate parks in Wellingborough but these are designed mainly for skateboarders, not bikes.

Mr Jeyes' petition was launched nine days ago and he hopes to get 250 names before presenting it to Sport England to ask it for help funding a BMX park in the town.

Most of the names have come from visitors to the shop in Redhill Farm, although local BMXers have also taken it into school to get friends' support.

Mr Jeyes said: "With problems like obesity and anti-social behaviour, this could cut down on that, and it will help the police immensely as well because it will stop these complaints about people riding where they shouldn't be."

He said he also had ideas for a specially designated graffiti wall on the site.

He said:"Graffiti is a problem but if they had a dedicated graffiti wall then I would be quite happy to run competitions using it, and to go down there and whitewash it once a month so they can start again."