CYP Now - Lottery Funding: Play projects jeopardised in shake-up

There is growing concern that 200m in Lottery cash, which the Government promised to set aside for children's play facilities, could be subsumed into a general funding pot, Children Now has learned.

In 2001, Labour announced 200m would be earmarked for new play spaces.

While they eagerly await the Government's response to MP Frank Dobson's review of children's play, which recommends how the cash should be distributed, campaigners are increasingly anxious about the money following a recent shake-up of Lottery funds.

They are concerned that there is no specific mention of play in a letter to stakeholders from culture secretary Tessa Jowell or in a paper published by the Department of Culture Media and Sport, which sets out the broad themes for Big Lottery Fund applications.

In the week it was announced he would become the new director of the Children's Play Council, London Play director Adrian Voce said there was mounting speculation that the 200m would no longer be ring-fenced.

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