Until relatively recently there has tended to be a piecemeal approach toplanning play provision. This hasn't been helped by the fact that playservices have either sat in a no man's land, between education, leisureand the parks department, or been virtually non-existent.
However, the last few years have seen improvements. The play sector hasgone from strength to strength. This has been accompanied by a growingacceptance of the vital importance of play in children's development,health, and happiness.
And now there's a hard cash incentive to think carefully about planningfor play, which has led to an explosion in activity. In November, theBig Lottery Fund informed councils how much they could expect from a new155m play fund, while making it clear that funding proposals mustbe backed by strategies.
A Children Now survey last year revealed more than half of councils didnot have a comprehensive play strategy (Children Now, 14-20 September2005). But this picture has begun to change, reveals Adrian Voce,director of the Children's Play Council, which recently carried out amore detailed audit of play strategies across England.
In a sector that has historically been under-funded, it's perhaps nosurprise that lottery money has acted as a catalyst, although the needfor more strategic thinking around play has always been there. Forinstance, MP Frank Dobson's 2004 review of children's play - GettingSerious About Play - identified that many children don't have access togood play facilities or opportunities.
A strategy can identify such gaps and even out inequalities, sayexperts. However, Bernard Spiegal, principal of Playlink, warns againstgetting fixated on the lottery. "Create a strategy that's good forchildren, then think about Big Lottery Fund requirements," he urges.
Mick Conway, policy officer for London Play, the organisation behind theMayor of London's Guide to Preparing Play Strategies, adds thatdeveloping a good strategy cannot be rushed.
But Voce is adamant that the surge of interest must not be wasted and isan opportunity to be ambitious. "It's not just about putting in moreplaygrounds or having after-school clubs," he says. "Any strategy shouldaim to change the way that the public realm and the spaces in whichchildren grow up are designed and built."
The points that follow are based on advice from play organisations andcouncils that have led the way in developing play strategies.
1. UNDERSTAND PLAY
This is the foundation for a good play strategy. It means understandingchildren's fundamental right to play, and the many different ways andplaces in which they play.
It also means realising people can have different views, says Spiegal,who has worked with many local authorities on play strategies. "Forexample, the way schools think about play is often different from a freeplay perspective," he explains.
Formulating a play policy to establish some key principles beforeembarking on a strategy is therefore essential. Useful starting pointsare the Children's Play Council's New Charter for Children's Play, andthe objectives outlined in the Best Play report by the Children's PlayCouncil, National Playing Fields Association and Playlink.
2. REMEMBER INCLUSION
"Play strategies, as with all other policies, need to be inclusive,"states Joanna Ryam, national development director at the charity Kids,which supports disabled children and their families. Looking atlegislation like the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, theDisability Discrimination Act and Children Act 2004, as well as thechildren's national service framework, helps reinforce this message.
But inclusion means thinking about all the barriers that preventchildren from accessing play spaces and what can be done to overcomethem, such as ensuring wheelchair access and having signs in differentlanguages.
"It's also about asking people in the community what they want," addsRyam.
Developing a play strategy is also an opportunity to work in partnershipwith health and social services, and pool budgets, but relatively simplechanges like increasing staff ratios may also help make settings moreinclusive.
Finally, Ryam suggests disability and equality training for playworkstaff.
3. DO AN AUDIT
A thorough audit of existing play space, facilities and opportunities isa useful way to establish a baseline for improvement. South Somerset,which has its draft play strategy out for final consultation, found thedevelopment process made it rethink how it carried out its four-yearlyaudit.
The audit now involves assessing the quality of all play provision inthe area against tougher criteria to establish priorities and informspending.
"We can then use this, together with indices of deprivation andpopulation size, to determine areas most in need," explains Steve Joel,head of sport and leisure.
One such area is Chard, a town with around 12,000 people, that has highdeprivation levels and some of the worst play provision in thedistrict.
As a result, it will be the focus for new community play audits, and theinitial step will be to bring together the key stakeholders, includingproviders and parents. They'll be introduced to the principles ofquality provision before assessing local facilities and talking to youngpeople.
Then they'll be supported to develop an improvement plan. With 370square miles to cover, the council doesn't have the resources to do allthis work itself, explains Joel. Getting local people actively involvedin the issue also makes for greater sustainability.
4. ENSURE GENUINE PARTICIPATION
It's vital to include children in developing, writing and monitoringyour play strategy to ensure you're focusing on the issues that reallymatter, believes Mark Gladwin, play services officer at Bradford CityCouncil.
Bradford's play policy was launched in 2004 after two years of researchand consultation, while its All to Play For strategy was published lastautumn. The authority used a number of techniques to ensure thorough andmeaningful consultation.
In 2002, for instance, a team of playworkers went into more than 50schools and play settings to gather the views of 1,000 children agedfour to 16 using "playful methods" like games, arts and crafts. "Weformulated priorities by learning how children played and what wasimportant to them," says Gladwin.
The team also carried out several small-scale projects including workingwith under-fives, and a group of young people with learning disabilitieswho visited settings and provided feedback.
5. MAKE IT TRULY CROSS-CUTTING
Children's play does not sit neatly within one service but cuts across arange of areas such as housing, transport, education and health.
Bristol's play strategy, Playing for Real, attempts to address this bysetting out clear requirements for different council departments andpartners. For example, the planning department is committed togenerating funding for play through Section 106 agreements. Theseagreements compel developers to provide community facilities as part ofcommercial or residential developments.
The authority's play team has also made a real effort to engage withprofessionals who may not see their role in promoting children's play,explains Les Compton, deputy head of young people's services.
So the team is working with education to develop "play pods" - sturdystorage boxes for play equipment - for school playgrounds. They alsowork with health, in particular by involving local hospitals in NationalPlay Day celebrations, and social services by offering advice on how toprovide a full range of play opportunities for children in care.
6. WORK IN PARTNERSHIP
Partnership work had a huge impact on Gloucestershire's 2005 playpolicy, Taking Play Seriously, reveals Vicky Fowkes, former chair of thepolicy steering group. "It brought in expertise and knowledge thatidentified need and gave us information about funding streams," sheexplains.
For example, policy development was funded by the county's early yearsand childcare service, Playwork Partnerships at the University ofGloucestershire, and the Neighbourhood Projects Network.
At an initial meeting, there was consensus over the need to take acounty-wide approach and give the project a high profile. This has alsomade funding more accessible, with cash from the special educationalneeds Sure Start grant funding five consultation events, which ranacross voluntary, private, maintained and council sectors.
And, while lottery money has been allocated at a district level, Fowkeswould like to see a county-wide play co-ordinator to support individualstrategies.
7. GET SUPPORT AT THE TOP
Bath and North East Somerset formulated a play policy in 2000 - overseenby a play development advisory group with strong representation from thevoluntary sector - which was evaluated last year. "One of the key pointswas that you must get management buy-in from the beginning," revealsSara Willis, early years, childcare and play team leader.
"It tended to be the play sector and service driving the policyforwards," she admits.
So the team is now trying to involve housing, primary care trust,planning, sport, leisure and parks colleagues by meeting with seniorofficers and managers.
8. LINK IT IN
Ensuring the strategy cuts across different areas can also be aboutlinking it in to other policies and strategies.
"We would like to see play strategies that link to the children andyoung people plan, the community plan, the open space strategy, thetransport plans and the local development framework," says Voce.
Sutton has created a strategy and an action plan closely linked to itschildren and young people plan and the five Every Child Mattersoutcomes.
Jane Hurst, head of play, youth and community services, explains: "Thechildren and young people plan is based on in-depth consultation andpartnership working and the play strategy and action plan have built onthat.
"This means that all parties are signed up to the strategy and actionplan. And it belongs to all of us as it's the children and youngpeople's plan and not just the play service's," she concludes.
9. CREATE CHAMPIONS
Dobson's play review advocated "play champions" to keep an eye onplanning and improving play services, and to tie this in with other workaffecting children and young people.
Voce agrees that such champions can be important, but at the same timecounsels that structures should be in place so a strategy doesn't losemomentum if someone moves on.
Last February, Bradford appointed councillor John Cole as play championafter a vote by schoolchildren. Gladwin admits that, initially, his teamflirted with the idea of a celebrity play champion, but having someonewith political clout and the ear of key decision-makers has really paidoff, he says.
"We saw the role as being a bridge between children and keydecision-makers, and that's very much what John's done," saysGladwin.
One area where Cole hopes to make a real difference is the thorny issueof funding. "If we're going to have a play strategy then we need somefunding to back that up," he claims.
With the council budget-setting process underway, he's written to allthe party leaders making the case for 50,000 a year to supportthe city's holiday play scheme.
10. MAKE IT HAPPEN
Most people who've been through the process of developing a playstrategy will tell you that putting it together is the easy bit, thehard part is making things happen. Sean Holehouse, plays servicesmanager at Southampton council, admits the vision in his head has notmaterialised. "There are a lot of competing programmes, initiatives andobjectives, and we haven't got some of the improvements we wanted," hesays.
However, the strategy has played a part in successes like creating moreopportunities for free play in primary schools due to a trainingprogramme for lunchtime supervisors, as well as securing 100,000to run activities for youngsters aged eight to 13 to stop them gettinginvolved in anti-social behaviour.
South Somerset's Joel believes the key is setting clear targets,responsibilities and performance indicators. "We've tried to be reallyclear about each of these so we're able to say it's measurable," heexplains. The strategy will also be monitored by an annual stakeholders'conference to feedback what's been achieved and influence futurework.
WHO CAN HELP
- The Children's Play Council has been funded to create nationalguidance on developing play strategies www.ncb.org.uk/cpc
- London Play researched and drafted the Mayor of London's Guide toPreparing Play Strategies, at www.london.gov.uk.
The organisation also offers support to London councils through itsPartners in Play project www.londonplay.org.uk
- Playlink provides a consultancy service that includes helping localauthorities and partners to develop play policies and strategieswww.playlink.org.uk
- Kids offers advice and training on inclusion. It's also the home ofthe National Inclusive Play Network www.kids-online.org.uk
CHILDREN'S VOICES
Children give their views on being consulted on play and their localfacilities
"Children are the ones going into the park so you might as well getchildren's views. Then you can make it more for us" Gelila, 10
"If somebody says: 'I want a slide,' and somebody else says atrampoline, then it's unfair if we have the slide and nobody knows why"Naomi, 8
"My favourite thing is football. We need goals because we only have theshed and the fence" Rio, 8
"There should be more parks, more stuff to do and no dogs allowed -separate parks for that" Ryanna, 9
"It's more fun to go off on my own with my friends because we can get upto all kinds of mischief and have a chat privately sometimes" Betty,8
"They could put in a lot more things, like better see-saws. And theycould put more children's requests for what they like, say like a biggerclimbing frame" Francesca, 9
"I just like playing football. We play in a park and on a football pitchbut not in the street. I just play by myself. Adults get in the way"William, 7 "I like playing different games with loads of people that Idon't know to try new things. I like being with adults" Rochelle, 10.
