Instead, the council sent play workers with basic equipment such as batsand balls, to try to make the time children spent hanging out on thestreet more rewarding and more fun.
There were several knock-on effects.
Instead of local residents continuing to complain about the childrenbeing a nuisance, the presence of the adult play workers encouraged themto see the children's street games as natural and legitimate. Anotherwas that the incidence of anti-social behaviour dropped noticeably.
It is the sort of project that exemplifies the aims of this year'snational Playday (3 August). It's theme of Fit for Play is intended toraise awareness of the need to make the environments in which childrenspend a large part of their daily lives fit for them to play in - theirneighbourhood streets, local open spaces and schools. It is aimed atre-establishing children's presence outdoors in their neighbourhoods,and reclaiming community spaces for play.
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