PLAY
More than playgrounds
Richard Newson of Play England looks at the need for local authorities and their partners to
embrace the bigger picture when planning for children’s play and introduces an innovative
new project, Play Shaper, that helps them to do this by making communities more child-friendly
U
ntil recently, play was often that have a stake in designing, planning,
considered something that building and managing our communities.
children just did: beyond the Instead of thinking of play in terms of
scope of legislation and gov- providing a scattering of sites where chil-
ernment interest. But as the pressure on dren can play in parks and playing fields,
public space has grown, exacerbated by the objective is to make whole communi-
the ever-increasing number of cars on ties child-friendly.
our streets, the space available for chil- To meet these aims, the Play Shaper
dren to play has started to disappear. programme was created by a partner-
At the same time, a heightened sense ship led by Play England with Playwork
of the dangers that children face means Partnerships and SkillsActive. Play
that, as adults, we are increasingly reluc- Shaper brings together professional
tant to allow our children to roam freely. people working in diverse organisations
Similarly, professionals providing play across a local area. The idea is for
opportunities may feel so constrained them to explore the importance of chil-
by health and safety concerns over ac- dren’s play and then look at what each
cidents and injuries, that the play areas can do within their own professional
we do provide lack the challenge and sphere, to enable and create more
excitement that children need. child-friendly communities.
Child-friendly Communities The Benefits of Play
Against this backdrop, the government The rewards to society for waking up
decided to ask children themselves what to the potential of children playing ac-
they thought could be done. Nearly tively are staggering. For a start, there
10,000 children came forward to partici- is an obvious contribution to the objec-
pate in the Fair Play consultation and tives of health professionals keen to
have their voices heard in Westminster. halt the year on year increase in obesity goes on to ask for community-based of-
The main reason they gave for not play- in children under 11 years old. This is ficers to actively feed into the plans of
ing outside was a lack of places to go a pressing concern, confirmed by the local authorities, play partnerships and
and things to do. They wanted bigger findings of research conducted recently third sector groups and to take an active
and better play areas with more exciting, by the British Heart Foundation, which role in the design of play areas and the
challenging and varied equipment. They found that out of 4,000 children, one in routes used to travel to them.
wanted to feel safe and be able to travel three are physically active for only one The list goes on: play and active travel
easily to and from places to play. hour per week – as opposed to the hour can help excluded youngsters feel part
In response, the government pro- per day recommended by the British of a community, reduce carbon emis-
duced the first national Play Strategy in Medical Association. sions, provide local employment
December 2008 and earmarked £235m Similarly, targeting play facilities to opportunities and increase residents’
for improving play space across England. specific areas can help address problems satisfaction with the places where they
The lion’s share of this money has been of anti-social behaviour. In a recent let- live. In fact, it has been estimated that
allocated to local authorities to refurbish ter to their members, the Association by making communities more child-
and develop play facilities. of Chief Police Officers emphasised that friendly we can contribute to around
However, the Play Strategy has a ‘good play and recreational facilities 43 of the national indicators used by
greater ambition: to make play an ongo- contribute to reduced youth crime, help government to measure the perfor-
ing priority not just for local authorities build safer communities and tackle the mance of local authorities.
but for the whole range of organisations problem of social exclusion’. The letter
Greater Collaboration
Play and active travel can help excluded youngsters feel The importance of engaging a wide
part of a community, reduce carbon emissions, provide local
spectrum of people in such work is
emphasised by Liz Kessler, the public
employment and increase residents’ satisfaction space co-ordinator for EC1 New Deal for
66 Read Sports Management online
sportsmanagement.co.uk/digital Issue 4 2009 © cybertrek 2009
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84