Play England appointed to support national play strategy
The Department for Children Schools and Families has appointed
Play England to help deliver the Government's vision for the future
of play.
Play England will support and challenge local authorities
receiving funding under the Government's new Play Pathfinder and
Playbuilder programmes.
As announced in the Children's Plan in December, all top-tier
local authorities in England will receive around £1m to
improve and develop their free play areas for children aged 8-13.
In addition, 30 Pathfinder authorities will receive an extra
£1m to build a new adventure playground or adventure play
park and to implement other elements of the national play strategy
launched in April with the consultation document, Fair Play. Play
England will make immediate contact with the 20 Play Pathfinder and
43 Playbuilder authorities already allocated funding
Play England's role, working closely with Government Offices in
the regions, will be to support local authorities' delivery,
provide advice on good practice, promote support for the strategic
measures of the play strategy, build the capacity of the voluntary
and community sector and provide progress reports to the
Department.
Play England is part of the National Children's Bureau. It has
nine regional offices, from which it supports the Big Lottery
Fund's Children's Play initiative. An early task will be to produce
guidance on design principles for outdoor play areas, followed by a
revision of its landmark Planning for Play guidance on producing
and delivering area-wide play strategies.
Minister for Children, Kevin Brennan said: "Children need more
and better places to meet their friends and have fun so I am
delighted to announce that Play England will be helping us in
delivering more playgrounds and more exciting and innovative play
for children, as set out in our consultation Fair Play.
"As the national support body, Play England will support local
councils in delivering our £235 million play investment
programme. Play England have huge experience and expertise in this
field. They have a thorough knowledge of play and the key
stakeholders in this sector, and a clear methodology and
implementation plan to support authorities.
"Being able to burn off energy in unstructured play is an important
part of growing up and maintaining a healthy weight and life. Under
our play investment programme, children will get new and exciting
adventure playgrounds, including 30 new adventure playgrounds and
up to 3,500 play areas for our children.
"The capital programme is a big part of our Children's Plan
strategy to help improve the lives of children in this country and
I want councils to work with Play England to make rapid progress on
delivering the new and better play areas by 2011."
Play England's director, Adrian Voce said: "We are delighted to
have been awarded this important contract. It will be a privilege
to support the government's bold ambitions for children's play and
to work with local authorities to help them offer more and better
play opportunities.
"This funding and the wider national play strategy should see
children's play become central to both children's services and
local planning frameworks for years to come. Building on our work
with the Big Lottery Fund, this new contract confirms both the
importance of a national support body for that process, and how far
Play England has come."
Learn more about Play England visit: www.playengland.org.uk