Play: The new era of play takes shape

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Hundreds of new play spaces have opened in time for Easter. Ross Watson finds out what councils have learned from the process.

Playground in Knowsley
Playground in Knowsley

From this week, 500 new play spaces are to open in time for the Easter school holidays. The spaces form the first wave of the government's £235m investment in play facilities in England. Under the initiative, 3,500 play spaces will either be newly created or refurbished by 2011. But while the play sector has greeted this drive for new facilities warmly, creating so many new spaces has presented some challenges.

Here CYP Now takes a look at some of the issues identified and asks what lessons can be learned ahead of the second phase.

Timescales

Although the government's vision was set out this time last year, money for projects did not reach most local authorities until the summer - and, in some cases, as late as September. Authorities claim this was the root of most of the challenges they faced in getting the first 500 areas ready by the government's 31 March deadline.

Rachel Marshall, Cambridgeshire County Council's play strategy project manager, says: "With longer time, we would have liked to have had a better quality of design and consultation."

Consultation

A lack of time was most problematic in Bath. Sharon Ball and her husband Tim, local councillors for Westmoreland and Twerton respectively, claim the newly developed spaces in their villages have not been welcomed by residents because they fear the spaces will attract older children who will vandalise equipment and behave antisocially.

But councillor Chris Watt, the council's cabinet member for children and young people, says there was lots of consultation with young people and the community. He adds that local communities are taking the lead for phase two of the project.

On the whole, play experts agree that children and young people were very involved in consultation for the first 500 play spaces.

Community engagement

According to Play England, the agency helping the government to deliver the new play spaces, asking people what they want is one thing, but explaining what is good for their community is totally different. This is about how to combat angry dog walkers and residents who fear a backlash of antisocial behaviour.

Judith Anderson, Play England's regional programme and development manager for the North West, says: "Where people don't want a play space on their doorstep, authorities need to make a case for play and raise its profile in the community."

She adds community engagement has been limited by time constraints, although successful authorities infiltrated housing associations, community groups and resident meetings in a bid to spread the word and make sure they are meeting the needs of the community as well.

Inspirational play spaces

Play England asked every authority to create areas that delivered outdoor play in an exciting way that felt natural and challenged children. Sand and bark instead of rubber surfaces, water features, timber equipment and boulders for children to climb on. Most authorities have risen to the challenge, although there are still exceptions.

Play consultant Tim Gill says: "We still need to win over more authorities and conquer the health-and-safety mindset. I'm hoping the next stage of play spaces will be more successful in promoting a balanced approach to risk."

Anderson adds that designing inspirational spaces requires the involvement of professionals from different specialisms. "A wide range of skills are required in addition to play experts. Planning, procurement, design teams and community representatives all need to be brought together," she says.

Inclusion

Authorities have been instructed to make the play spaces accessible for disabled children and inclusive enough to appeal to all hard-to-reach groups. This is another challenge to which they have largely risen.

Cambridgeshire County Council conducted targeted work with disabled children, black and ethnic minority groups, and gypsy/Traveller children. Girls also need to be considered, according to Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council, which has noted that boys appear to be using the facilities more than girls.

CASE STUDY: Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council

Henley Park in Knowsley is being held up as a shining example of good design by Play England. The council claims it has already passed its consultation documents on to three other authorities that wished to share its good practice.

The council consulted about 8,000 children by going through existing play services and schools. The play pathfinder team then talked to all local town councils and parish council board members, as well as local community groups. To ensure the new play spaces were accessible to everyone, the council spoke to two disabled children's groups in the area. One young disabled person also joined the design team to ensure everything was inclusive without it looking too obvious. Daniel Wilson, Play Pathfinder project officer, says: "We discussed designs with all parties and implemented them with their blessing.

"We did come up against some local opposition, but overcoming it is mostly about information sharing. You will never satisfy everyone, but you can try to change attitudes and educate people."

The council has opted to use plenty of natural materials such as timber equipment, a lot of earth and natural boulders. Safety surfaces are all bark and sand.

Wilson adds: "Henley Park is a constant source of complaints - there are too many children who want to play in it."

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