City skaters get ready to roll

The Saughton facility is the culmination of a decade of campaigning by the Edinburgh Skatepark Project (ESP), whose members helped create the final layout with designer Dave Sowerby.

The area, in Saughton Park, covers 2,100 square metres, with jumps, ramps and bowls for skateboarders, BMX bikers and in-line skaters.

The ESP's Sam Paterson said: "It's long overdue and the idea at the time was that we would steal a march on the rest of Scotland and everyone else has now got one. But the good news is that we've got one that's better than all the rest.

"Sometimes you see skate parks on paper and then when you get to the parks themselves you think 'This could have been really good if they'd got it right', but here they've let the users do so much of the tweaking, and it's just great."

Skateboard shop Focus, which has a store in Canongate, is to open a new store in nearby Balgreen Road to capitalise on the park's opening. Owner Grant Roberts said he thought the park would bring about a new era of popularity for skateboarding in the Capital: "It's been a long time coming but at least it looks like it's going to be a phenomenal park.

"I think it will definitely encourage a new wave of skateboarders and BMXers, and I think there will be a lot of people coming out of the woodwork that haven't skated for years because they've got this new facility on their doorstep."

The 750,000 park was given the go-ahead by city planners in December 2008. Bids to build skateparks at the Meadows and Inverleith Park were thrown out due to local opposition, and members of ESP subsequently visited more than 20 alternative sites with council staff to find a suitable location.

City sport leader, Councillor Deidre Brock, said: "It's very exciting to see how well the new skatepark is taking shape. This brings to fruition years of tireless campaigning by the Edinburgh Skatepark Project, who I'm sure are champing at the bit now there are only a few weeks before they can start using the new facility.

"The news that a leading skate hardware and clothing retailer is to set up shop in nearby Balgreen Road indicates, I think, just how popular the skatepark will be, before it's even open."