as part of £235m Government investment on children’s play.
Funding of £225 million was announced for play in the Children’s Plan, but an additional £10 million has been added to this fund, as Ministers underlined the importance of play and how it should be taken seriously by every council in the country.
Ed Balls and Andy Burnham also vowed to help tackle bullying and crime in play areas and other public spaces, improve road safety and work with town planners and developers to create more child friendly public spaces, ending the ‘no ball games’ culture.
The Ministers promised to investigate whether local authorities were being over cautious with play equipment and to support parents in balancing risk against opportunity.
The Government will have a new play indicator, meaning that every year children and young people will be asked how satisfied they are with their local play areas and parks.
To help them improve their play facilities, all councils will get funding for play (3,500 play areas), with 30 play pathfinder authorities getting extra £2 million for adventure playgrounds, and 43 playbuilder authorities receiving an additional £1 million for play areas.