Play Builder Funding is back on!
PRESS RELEASE FROM THE API
Date: 02.11.2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Playgrounds Saved!
The recent Government announcement that funding for playgrounds will not be entirely scrapped is welcome news to hundreds of communities that have campaigned tirelessly to save their local play area.
In a letter to local authorities, Michael Gove stated that £20.8 million had been shaved off the original £75 million budget for improving and building playgrounds as part of the final phase of the original 3 year playbuilder scheme.
It is now up to the individual local authorities to ensure that this available funding is channelled towards creating better play spaces for children across the UK. As Michael Gove commented, “I know how important it is that children and families have safe, free local places to play; and the hard work that local authorities are doing to make this a reality.”
Since the play funding freeze back in July this year playground campaigner, Emma Kane, set up the Save the Playground campaign (www.savetheplayground.co.uk) to not only save her local playground in Oxfordshire but to also give a voice to the many other communities that were in the Viagra buy same disappointing situation of not knowing what would happen to their earmarked new play area.
On receiving news that her local playground will go ahead, Emma commented, “I’m thrilled, this is fantastic news – it means that many of the playgrounds will now go ahead, and communities will get the playgrounds they worked so hard for. I am delighted that the voice of so many communities has been heard by the Government.”
The Association of Play Industries (API) has put its full support behind the campaign 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.
John Croasdale, Chairman of the API, commented, “This is a positive step forward for the future of playgrounds and for the children and communities they serve. With so much recent concern over the decline in children playing outdoors, a rise in childhood obesity and a lack of opportunity for children to learn social skills, the commitment to funding is a sign that the Government recognises the importance of providing all children, the access to safe and stimulating playgrounds.”
In the big scheme of the sweeping cuts being announced, children’s playgrounds may seem like an unimportant ‘need’, but they offer so much more than just a place to play. Before the playbuilder scheme was put in place 2 years ago, the Government commissioned Play England to conduct a survey on play.
The findings revealed shocking figures that one in four 8-10 year olds have never played outside without an adult and one in three parents will not even allow their children to play outside the house or garden!
The findings also confirmed what every child and most parents know – that playing is a deeply instinctive need. Children are motivated to play because they enjoy it, and what they enjoy is its uncertainty and spontaneity; expressing themselves and how they’re feeling, within a safe space. The findings also show that playing causes the brain to develop flexible responses to experiences and relationships
Playing freely with friends, it found, let children experience primary emotions such as fear, anger, sadness, happiness, shock and disgust. The rules of the game, meanwhile, developed secondary emotions such as pride, shame and sympathy. The academics concluded that play was important when it came to forming friendships, building resilience and boosting emotional and physical health.
The playbuilder scheme should mark a moment in the history of child policy when the state recognised that one of the most effective interventions for children was to simply make space for them to be themselves.
Many play areas are still in desperate need of bringing into the 21st Century and the recent commitment to funding will go some way to achieving this over the next year. There is now renewed hope that the Government will continue to fund places for children to play in the future.
For more information on the API visit http://www.api-play.org/ and for more information on Save the Playground campaign visit http://www.savetheplayground.co.uk/ .
