Planning play for the future

139/08
10 December 2008

Joint DCSF/DCMS Press Release

National Play Strategy launched with 89 local authorities awarded funding to build and revamp playgrounds

Communities all over England will have the chance to design their own children’s play areas as part of £235m funding for play announced in the Children's Plan. Today Children’s Secretary Ed Balls announced a new drive to create exciting play sites, with £30m due to be spent in 2010/2011 being brought forward to 09/10, as part of the Government's drive to get the country through the economic downturn. This means that all local authorities will be able to access play funding of at least £1m by Spring 2009.
 
The National Play Strategy outlines the Government’s long term vision and actions to deliver safe, accessible and exciting play opportunities for all children, in response to huge demand from our Fair Play public consultation this summer. As part of this investment, all local areas will receive funding.    Building on the 63 local areas that are already receiving funding, a further 89 local authorities will receive play capital and revenue funding from April 2009.

Of these, 10 new Pathfinders will receive on average £2.5million, with which to create and improve play sites and also build a new state of the art staffed adventure playground. The remaining authorities will each receive around £1.1million to create and renovate new and existing play sites in their local areas.

Ed Balls said: “We know that outdoor play has many benefits to children and parents tell us that it is key to a happy and enjoyable childhood.  Play is good for children, good for families and good for communities. The best people to say what is exciting and fun are children, which is why we want them to help make the decisions about play services in their local neighbourhoods. Putting children and young people at the heart of the design process will mean that they can create fantastic play sites and provide a safe but exciting environment for them and their friends to enjoy.  By rolling-out our programme more quickly to local authorities, so that every local authority is offered funding by April 2009, we can get better facilities available to children sooner, and support the economy at the same time.”

The National Play Strategy outlines a cross-Government long-term vision for play. Minister for Sport Gerry Sutcliffe said:
 
“It’s great that so many children have had their say on our national play strategy. Now we can be sure that we’re giving them what they want – engaging play areas where they can let their imagination run wild. This strategy will go a long way to making sure we get children active from an early age so that they grow up enjoying being outside in the fresh air. It is then more likely that they will go on to lead active, healthy lives.”

The strategy follows consultation with over 9,000 children and young people as well as parents, stakeholders and local professionals, all of whom asked for better play opportunities resulting in the following five key areas for Government action:

  • Provide more places to play: the Government is responding to children’s needs by investing £235 million in up to 3,500 improved play areas and 30 new adventure playgrounds
  • Support play throughout childhood: Play opportunities for children of all ages and abilities
  • Address safety issues: A package of support and guidance for local authorities on how to deliver exciting, safe and accessible environments
  • Establish child-friendly communities: Guidance and training to make sure that the design and management of public space responds to and engages with children of all ages
  • Embedding play in local priorities: led by Children’s Trusts, local authority planning and services will take account of children’s play needs, helped by investment in the workforce who support and supervise play. A new national indicator will check levels of children’s satisfaction with their parks and local play areas,.  We have also set out a package of support for the third sector, including £1.5m to refurbish third sector-run adventure playgrounds

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Children’s Minister, Delyth Morgan said: “We know that children need play to develop the skills for a successful future. Through the Play Strategy, we are ensuring that all our new investment is shaped by local consultation, and we are supporting community-led projects, including through new funding to support our key delivery partners in the third sector. In addition to investing in new play areas to meet immediate needs we are also laying the foundations to ensure that play becomes a greater priority across local children’s services and throughout local planning and delivery over the longer term.”

Maggie Atkinson Director of the Association of Directors of Children’s Services said: “I very much welcome the government's new play strategy. The strategy will help local authorities, their partners and communities to transform public parks, children's play areas and school grounds so that all children have the opportunity to enjoy playing outside with their friends in a safe, stimulating and exciting environment."

Adrian Voce, director of Play England, said: “This strategy sets out a vision for the sort of neighbourhoods that we would all want for our children, but which have been increasingly denied them. Local places to play that are inclusive, fun and adventurous and a wider public realm that responds to all children’s needs for safety and access are at the heart of the Government’s ambition to make England the best place in the world to grow up. Everyone should embrace this vision. We will work with the government, local councils and others to make it a reality.”

Sir Liam Donaldson, Chief Medical Officer said: "Play is essential for healthy physical, psychological and social development. Fortunately, play is what children do best. Running around, having fun with their friends and burning off energy is a great way for youngsters to step up to 60 minutes of physical activity every day."

Overall, respondents to the Fair Play consultation strongly welcomed the Government’s proposals and provided a clear insight into the needs of children, parents and local and national partners.  The National Play Strategy reaffirms a vision for play that reflects the aspirations of children, young people and parents across the country:

  • In every residential area there are a variety of places for play, free of charge, supervised and unsupervised;
  • Local neighbourhoods are, and feel like, safe, interesting places to play;
  • Routes to children’s play spaces are safe and accessible for all children and young people;
  • Parks and open spaces are attractive and welcoming to children and young people and are well maintained and well used;
  • Children and young people have a clear stake in public space and their play is accepted by the neighbours;
  • Children and young people play in a way that respects other people and property while playing;
  • Children and young people and their families take an active role in the development of local play spaces;
  • Play spaces are attractive, welcoming, engaging and accessible for all local children and young people, including disabled children, and children from minority groups in the community.

Change4Life is a new initiative from the Department of Health that aims to help every family in England eat well, move more and live longer. Play is a clear contributor to the Change4Life programme and a great way to encourage children to have a more active lifestyle. One element of the Change4Life programme is Play4Life which can be used by any organisation to promote play related programmes and initiatives.

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Notes to Editors

The final 10 Play Pathfinders who will commence in April 2009 are:

Blackpool, Cornwall, Kirklees, Lambeth, Luton, Merton, Newcastle, Oxfordshire, Sandwell, Wigan

Play Pathfinders receive approximately £2.5m funding over the period 2009-11, with which to develop a minimum of 28 play spaces and also a new staffed adventure playground. They were selected by a competitive bidding process over the summer.

The other local authorities being offered around £1m funding from April 2009 are:

Wave 2

Barking & Dagenham, Barnsley, Birmingham, Bournemouth, Buckinghamshire, Darlington, Durham, Ealing, Greenwich, Haringey, Hartlepool, Herefordshire, Hertfordshire, Hull, Kingston-upon-Thames, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Medway, Milton Keynes, Norfolk, North Somerset, Oldham, Salford, Sheffield, Shropshire, South Gloucestershire, South Tyneside, Southwark,  Stockport,  Sutton, Swindon, Torbay, Warwickshire, Westminster, Wirral, Wokingham, York.           

Previously wave 3, now brought into wave 2 through acceleration of capital programme:

Barnet, Bedford Borough, Bexley, Bracknell Forest, Bradford, Brighton & Hove, Bromley, Central Bedfordshire, City of London, Cheshire East, Cheshire West & Chester, Cumbria, Derbyshire, Devon, Doncaster, Dorset, Essex, Gloucestershire, Hammersmith & Fulham, Harrow, Havering, Hillingdon, Hounslow, Isles of Scilly, Isle of Wight, Kent, Leicestershire, Newham, North East Lincolnshire, North Lincolnshire, North Yorkshire, Poole, Redcar & Cleveland, Richmond-upon-Thames, Rutland, St Helens, Stoke-on-Trent, Surrey, Telford & Wrekin, Trafford, Wakefield, Walsall, Waltham Forest, Warrington, West Berkshire, West Sussex, Wiltshire, Windsor & Maidenhead.

Additional third party quotes:

Sarah Gaventa, Director, CABE said: “At CABE, we strongly believe that professionals working in planning, design and management must come together in a combined effort to create successful, well-designed neighbourhoods. CABE welcomes the government’s Play Strategy and urges local authorities to be creative and imaginative in taking it forward. It should lead to a much more holistic, creative and collaborative approach to the design of play space, led by professionals with the appropriate range of skills, knowledge and experience. Children need to be put at the heart of the planning and design of public space. By integrating more playable spaces into the public realm, a more child-friendly environment can be created that meets the needs of the wider community and is fun for all.”

Anne Longfield OBE, Chief Executive of 4Children said: “This play strategy is a crucial step towards rebuilding places at the heart of the community where children can play locally and safely. Getting active and playing is the real antidote to the growing phenomenon of couch potato kids.  We need to recapture the freedom that open spaces in local neighborhoods used to offer children to build exciting places to play into every community and give children the real life adventure and fun that computer games and TV just can’t deliver. Creating settings where children can enjoy themselves freely, make friends and have fun are sure to be popular with everyone concerned. I am confident that the principles of this strategy will help us offer children the space and opportunities we know they need.”

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Cllr Les Lawrence - The Local Government Association said: “Providing positive and stimulating places for children to play has always been an important aspect of the work of local authorities. From adventure playgrounds, to support for voluntary sector play centres and out-of-school provision, local authorities have played a leading role in the development of play opportunities for children.

“England’s councils take play very seriously. We need to raise the profile of play and of those who work in play. The Play Strategy highlights the crucial opportunity for local authorities to develop play opportunities as part of their integrated strategy for children. It reinforces that local government will continue to do all it can to support play and encourages the play sector to work with it to take full advantage of the opportunities offered. It should enable councils to work with other agencies and with children and families themselves to make play come alive in the best way possible for them and their communities. “

The Sustainable Development Commission said: “The SDC welcomes DCSF’s new Play Strategy and the encouragement it provides for Children’s Trusts and Local Planning partners to create child-friendly spaces. We are particularly pleased by the focus on reducing barriers to play caused by road traffic, and also welcome the promotion of green and natural spaces as places which offer children a range of physical and psychological health benefits, and foster their understanding of nature.”

The Association of Chief Police Officers said: "The Association of Chief Police Officers is pleased to support the Government’s Play Strategy. An environment that is welcoming and accepting of children and young people playing sociably and respectfully outside and meeting their friends is the sign of a healthy community.  Importantly, the Play Strategy recognises there is an appropriate balance to be struck between meeting the developmental needs of children and young people through free play without being over-supervised and the need to ensure they are safe and protected from crime and anti-social behaviour."

Every Disabled Child Matters said: “EDCM welcomes the response from Baroness Morgan to the proposals in our campaign briefing 'Going Places!' which we will be considering in detail. In the meantime we look forward to working with the Department to ensure that the opportunities for all children and young people set out in The Play Strategy are fully inclusive of all disabled children and young people."

Contact information

Please contact the DCSF press office for queries 020 7925 6789.
Public enquiries 0870 000 2288 or info@dcsf.gsi.gov.uk

Press Enquiries: 020 7211 6052/6277
Out of hours telephone pager no: 07699 751153
Public Enquiries: 020 7211 6200

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