THE creation of a skate park might appear to be a triviality in comparison with major Island events and issues such as the recent elections, the selection of a new Council of Ministers or looming threats to the economy. However, for the relatively modest expenditure of £125,000, young Islanders have been provided with an excellent free facility that will undoubtedly pay dividends in a number of important areas.

The new park, opened earlier this week by, among others, Deputy Ben Fox, a leading campaigner in the cause, will meet manifest demand from our sizable skateboarding community – a community that has had to wait for seven long years to see its needs met in anything like an acceptable manner.

Again, meeting the needs of skateboarders and BMX bikers might seem like a triviality – until the effects of the alternatives are weighed up. For example, anything which genuinely undermines the traditional teenage complaint – that there is nothing to do – must be a move in the right direction.

More significantly, in the absence of a purpose-built skate park, all manner of areas and objects around town and elsewhere tend to be pressed into service for the tricks which boarders and bikers practise and perfect. This often presents dangers not only to those on the boards and bikes but also to ordinary members of the public.

A properly designed and constructed park will maximise safety while also allowing skilled practitioners to become even more skilled and providing a learning environment for those just embarking on their boarding or biking careers.

Moreover, even in areas where safety is not an issue, nuisance and inconvenience can enter the picture – as can the unfair perception that boarders are mere hooligans unwilling to respect others people’s rights to peace and privacy.

There is, meanwhile, a further advantage to be considered. As Jake Hipwell, the president of the Channel Islands Skateboard Association, has pointed out, boarding is good exercise. In these days of childhood obesity and its attendant health problems, the users of the new park will not only be enjoying themselves but also keeping themselves fit.