WHAT youngsters in Lochgelly for a very long time is now not far away.

Councillors met on site with pupils from the town's schools to mark the start of construction milestone with a sod cutting ceremony.

Councillor Linda Erskine, convener of the Cowdenbeath Area Committee, explained: “Providing new or upgraded skate park facilities has been a priority in the local area for a number of years and it’s great to see the project delivering.

"New skate parks in Cardenden, Benarty and Kelty have been completed for some time and Cowdenbeath’s much anticipated new skate park is also under construction.

“Work beginning in Lochgelly Pubic Park marks the last of the area’s five new skate parks and this will complement the multi-use games area that was built in the park last year.

"We’re grateful to the children and staff from Lochgelly West and South schools to help us mark the occasion.”

Convener of the Community and Housing Services Committee, Cllr Judy Hamilton, added: “A huge amount of work has gone on in local communities over the years to get us to this point.

"The enthusiasm from skaters and local groups to help deliver solutions that are supported by them is much appreciated and already proving worthwhile in the popular skate parks that are completed.

“There are big differences in the levels of health and wellbeing across Fife’s communities.

"We’re tackling that in a number of ways and providing safe outdoor spaces for people to access free sporting activities is a good example of how removing the barriers to physical activity can help to reduce health inequalities in the long term.”

Lochgelly’s new floodlit concrete skate park will be around 400 square metres in size and is funded from the Council’s Cowdenbeath Area Capital Budget. The project benefitted from input from the Lochgelly Public Park Improvement Group and Lochgelly Community Council.

Construction work is expected to be complete by the end of the year given reasonable weather.

Our photograph shows Cllr Judy Hamilton (front) alongside Cllrs Linda Erskine and Rosemary Liewald with pupils from Lochgelly South and Lochgelly West Primary Schools, members of the Public Park Improvement Group, Bendcrete Skateparks and council officers.