force to provide more challenging play areas for this age range. Another part of the scheme was to introduce natural play opportunities in natural surround- ings – taking away boundaries to play areas to give the feeling of space and bringing natural elements into play such as rocks, sand, water and logs. A high number of communities have al-
ready championed the recent funding and the passion and drive to raise additional funds for these play areas has been out- standing. Children have had a big input into what they want their local play areas to offer and community consultation on new play areas has been extensive.
Successful campaigning After the play funding freeze back in July this year, playground campaigner Emma Kane set up the Save the Playground campaign to not only save her local play- ground in Oxfordshire but also to give a voice to the many other communities that were in the same disappointing situation of not knowing what would happen to their planned new play area. Kane has been applauded for putting
hundreds of hours into her community’s Playbuilder application and drew on support from people of all ages in her neighbourhood. “We had a group of youth ambassadors who were involved
CASE STUDY: SEAHAM BMX/SKATEBOARD PARK
(below) where approximately 100 young- sters were treated to demonstrations and coaching sessions by professional skaters and BMX riders. The young people of Seaham worked
T
alongside council officials and the park designer to create the ramps and other features. Working in partnership with Seaham Town Council, the designer was also able to use the results of a
his summer saw the official opening of the £130,000 Seaham Town Park BMX/Skateboard Park
public consultation to design a Record RSS-equipped skate facility that meets community needs. The community-spirited youngsters
have since developed ownership of the park and have vowed to help in its continued success by keeping it clean and tidy. Partnership working by Sea- ham Town Council and Durham County Council led to a combined funding of £130,000 to achieve this facility with a second phase of play equipment partial- ly dependant on Playbuilder funding.
and consulted at every stage. We made a film, we distributed 1,000 question- naires, had numerous village and strategy meetings and set up a constitut- ed village organisation,” Kane explains. On receiving news that her local play-
ground will now go ahead, Kane was thrilled. “I hope this means that other communities will also get the playgrounds they worked so hard for,” she said. The Association of Play Industries (API)
put its full support behind Kane’s cam- paign and in August this year delivered a 300 page petition to 10 Downing Street urging the government to commit to play funding in the future. The association also sent a booklet to MPs and those involved in the field of public play, which show- cased the importance of good, modern playgrounds, how they serve the local com- munities and the children that use them. Many play areas are still in desper-
ate need of being brought into the 21st century and the recent commitment to funding will go some way to achieving this. There is now renewed hope that the government will continue to fund places for children to play in the future. ●
Deborah Holt is association manager at the API, which operates under the um- brella of the Federation of Sports and Play Associations (FSPA)
Issue 4 2010 © cybertrek 2010
Read Sports Management online
sportsmanagement.co.uk/digital
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