Last December, the Children’s Plan provided England’s councils with around £1m each to spend on play areas for children aged eight to 13, with 30 pathfinder areas receiving an extra £1m each to build new adventure playgrounds and other facilities set out in the national play strategy, Fair Play.
Play England will advise the local authorities on these objectives, share good practice, develop the capacity of the voluntary and community sector, and provide progress reports to the government.
Paul Bonel, playwork unit director at SkillsActive, the sector skills agency for active leisure and learning, welcomed the announcement. The news comes as a much-deserved vote of confidence in Play England’s ability to improve the nation’s play opportunities for children, he said.
Play England has demonstrated a track record of professionalism and dedication and the contract reflects this.
Children’s minister Kevin Brennan said: 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 30 new adventure playgrounds and up to 3,500 play areas.
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