Skateboarding may not sit too well with sporting traditionalists but it is making a play for recognition. West Lothian Council is proving that getting schoolchildren into custom-built town centre skateboard parks may be no bad way of keeping them out of trouble.

For 20 years, a purpose-built skateboard park in the centre of Livingston has been a draw for children. It was built with money from the former new town development corporation and after extension work in 1992 is rated as one of the best facilities of its kind in Europe. The council has proved the “build it and they will come” philosophy.

The sport is booming in the town and the question is why similar facilities are not on offer in more of Scotland’s larger centres. After a period on the wane, skateboarding has undoubtedly taken off again but most children are resigned to building their own obstacles and ramps in car parks or on the streets.

Stuart Younie, a leisure development officer with West Lothian Council, believes the skateboard park has become a focal point for local youngsters and much of the success can be attributed to its central location. “I think the fact that it is right in the centre of town and easily accessible has been a major factor in its success,” he says. “It is a great pity Edinburgh and Glasgow do not have a similar facility as there is a need for it.

“I think a lot of kids would like to see some sort of facility in their school playground but that would be up to individual councils and schools.

“There is the safety element to the sport,” he continues, “but it is better for youngsters to have access to a proper facility rather than try to build their own obstacles with plywood and crates, which is what happens. If there is no facility, youngsters will simply go elsewhere and there is more risk involved in that than with a specially designed park.”

He adds: “It is possible now to buy obstacles such as half-pipe and quarter-pipe off the shelf.”

Whereas there have been problems with youngsters hanging around inner city areas, the Livingston facility has helped to keep children out of trouble.

“There has been very little trouble, the odd incidents of vandalism but no more so than anywhere else in the town and nine times out of 10 it tends to be hangers-on that are responsible, not the skateboarders themselves,” Mr Younie explains.

He says Livingston’s skateboard park is the oldest concrete one in the UK and claims it has become a “national icon” within skateboarding circles. Youngsters come from all over the country and there is an annual, though unofficial, party every June which attracts the best skateboarders in Britain.

“A lot of thought went into the design. It was built at a time when there was a lull in skateboarding after the boom of the 1970s. The sport tends to go through seven-year cycles and is hitting a peak again.”

Mr Younie says that the facility is used by primary age children as well as “youngsters such as myself who are 30 plus” and part of the attraction is the element of risk. The council has held discussions with St John’s Hospital and its own health and safety advisers and the conclusions are that headgear is essential and knee-pads and elbow-pads will prevent grazing but will not protect against broken bones from a fall.

For now, there is no likelihood of the park being supervised as it is believed that would have an adverse effect on the numbers of children using it. There are no accurate weekly user figures but the annual total runs into thousands.

While there are obvious keep-fit benefits, skateboarding struggles to be recognised as a sport and falls somewhere between sport and recreation. Mr Younie says: “Skateboarding is recognised by Sportscotland but there is no governing body for the sport and, to be fair, I don’t know if it lends itself to having a governing body. Maybe a representative body of some kind would be the answer.

“There is too much of an anarchic element to skateboarding. Although some of the guys probably train as much as a top athlete would, the average kid just wants to go and have fun. I don’t see it every becoming an Olympic sport although there are some competitions, which tend to be mainly events for television.”