play &


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Adrian Voce, the director of Play England, writes about the importance of the national Play Strategy in response to a comment by John Harris in the online edition of the Guardian 4 January 2010.


“There is an instinctive aversion to government interference in something as


spontaneous as children playing, but the alternative is a 'battery-reared' existence. The play strategy takes on the need for local planning to better consider the needs of children in public spaces. John Harris considers the national play strategy as "borderline absurd". He has clearly lost contact with the views of children and families,


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February 2010 Don’t be distracted from the importance of play


Children with regular access to such spaces are much more likely to enjoy their childhood's and to grow up healthier and happier. These areas are also good for communities: where children and young people have their own places to play or to hang out – everyone benefits. Yet, research has shown


that children's freedom to play out has been in steep decline for many years and that the resulting sedentary lifestyles of many children is a significant factor in increasing levels of childhood obesity. The national play strategy takes on this challenge and has given rise to a change, both in the priority now being afforded to children's play by local councils and in the quality of play areas being provided. It will see 3,500 new or improved play areas and at least 30 staffed adventure playgrounds or play parks by 2011. It has introduced new design principles and guidance on risk management that should see an end to the risk-averse approach that has made too many public playgrounds dull and unattractive.


who consistently rate better play facilities and safer, more child-friendly neighbourhoods as a top priority.


Play is a fundamental need


for children that, as they grow, requires local, accessible space that parents can trust to be safe but that is also physically challenging, stimulating, attractive and well-maintained.


Perhaps more importantly than the investment, the play strategy takes on the need for local planning, housing and traffic management to better consider the needs of children in the public realm. A degree of independent mobility for children as they grow up is an essential element of a healthy, sustainable community, which will require a culture change in the way local planning decisions are made.


It is to the government's


credit that it has committed to make this change, with guidance and training for


planners and others whose remit includes public space, and a promise to introduce planning policy that stresses the needs of children within the built environment and the way open spaces are used. Nor is this policy a whim of


children's secretary Ed Balls and his supposedly centralising tendencies, as Harris suggests. The origins of the play strategy stem from the 2001 election, when the then culture secretary, Chris Smith, pledged lottery funding to improve children's playgrounds – a promise endorsed by his successor, Tessa Jowell, following an independent review by the former health secretary Frank Dobson.


And in case this sounds


like a roll call of similarly minded New Labourites, the Conservatives' 2008 report into childhood was entitled More Ball Games and cited the lack of freedom for children to play out as a major challenge for child policy. There is an instinctive aversion to government interference in something as spontaneous and natural as children playing, but the reality is that if government didn't act we would be condemning generations of children to a type of "battery- reared" existence, where play is increasingly defined by sitting in front of a screen. Far from being absurd, the play strategy is one of the most progressive and popular policies of the last few years, addressing a real and long- term problem that no government can afford to ignore.”


Play England Click here to request literature Play shorts


Lower speed limits show reduction in child fatalities and injuries


Speed limits of 20mph


have reduced the number of children killed or seriously injured on London's roads, according to a report published in the British Medical Journal.


Study shows decline in children’s fitness over last ten years According to new


research published in the Archives of Disease in Childhood, children have become less fit over the last ten years. The study by the Centre for Sports and Exercise at Essex University found that boys were nine per cent less fit than they were 10 years ago, with girls' fitness having declined by seven per cent


Baroness Morgan to deliver four nations keynote address Baroness Morgan will deliver the keynote address to Playing the long game, a four nations meeting which will review recent policy developments for children’s play. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children, Young People and Families will join speakers from the Local Government Association (LGA), think tank Demos and leading thinkers in play, planning and urban design, to debate how to sustain the momentum for change.


CLICK HERE TO REQUEST LITERATURE Enquire at: www.playat.co.uk/enquire


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