Child Friendly Upton Provides Framework for UK

A ground-breaking new approach to developing child-friendly towns and villages throughout the UK was unveiled Friday, December 8 in the former mining community of Upton, near Wakefield.

Children from Upton Primary School joined guests at an event to mark the launch of the Upton Play Appraisal – a wide-ranging project involving local people to help Upton become a more child-friendly village.

The event included the opening of the first new pieces of play equipment – a zip wire and single point swing for older children. This will be followed by the installation of new play equipment at carefully selected locations throughout Upton during the next 12 months.          

The provision of better quality play equipment is one of the keys to developing more child-centred towns and villages, as part of a wider programme to enhance the lives of local communities.    

The success of the Play Appraisal in Upton has led to it being used as a best practice model for a £1 million national programme enabling communities to be more child friendly – the Lottery funded ‘Young People Friendly Neighbourhoods’.

Community engagement underpins the play appraisal process and Upton, which previously only had two play areas serving a population of over 6,000 people, is no exception.    

Extensive research was undertaken into the types of play spaces residents wanted and where they should be sited. It involved setting up a steering group, issuing a questionnaire to a quarter of the homes in Upton and holding three public meetings.

Young people also played their part. The first ever Upton Youth Council gave children the chance to discuss the issues that mattered most to them and to agree where they wanted the improved recreational facilities.

In addition, 450 school children attended workshops organised by Wakefield and District Play Forum to identify areas in the village where they felt unsafe and where they enjoyed playing.

A spokesman from the Upton & North Elmsall Community Forum, said giving local people the chance to shape the future of their play facilities was instrumental to Upton Play Appraisal’s success, adding that the whole community stood to benefit from the project.

“Considering the amount of children and young people we have in our community, the amount of play equipment available to them is very limited. Over the past two decades the amount of such equipment has dwindled to almost nothing of any note. As a community group, we at U.N.E.F welcome any initiative to bring more investment into the area with regard to recreational facilities for young people. We hope that the benefits of the Upton Play Appraisal initiative will be enjoyed by the young people in our area, promoting a more active lifestyle, and making our villages a better place in which to live.” 

The development of the Play Appraisal also involved Groundwork Wakefield and Wakefield Metropolitan District Council, with the support of Sutcliffe Play, the international outdoor play specialists whose headquarters are in Upton.

Ken Taylor, Executive Director, Groundwork Wakefield, said the success of the Play Appraisal was due in no small part to the fact that decisions affecting the local community were made by local people.

“The needs and views of local people have been the foundation for the Appraisal.  This, coupled with the invaluable support of U.N.E.F, Sutcliffe Play and WMDC, has placed play and the needs of young people at the heart of the regeneration of Upton. The outcome is a unique approach to the provision of Play that has the potential to be rolled out nationally,” he said.

Sutcliffe Play has provided £70,000 worth of play equipment free of charge and Managing Director Robin Sutcliffe is delighted that the Play Appraisal will encourage people to re-think how play can impact on regeneration.    

“The Play Appraisal demonstrates that play can be an integral part of community regeneration. The provision of appropriate play equipment, which meets the needs of children and their parents and guardians, is a powerful tool. It has been proven to   enrich people’s lives and to bring communities much closer together and I hope that other locations will approach the Play Appraisal as eagerly as Upton,” he commented.       

More informaton about Sutcliffe Play can be viewed www.sutcliffeplay.co.uk

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