From this week, 500 new play spaces are to open in time for the Easter school holidays. The spaces form the first wave of the government's £235m investment in play facilities in England. Under the initiative, 3,500 play spaces will either be newly created or refurbished by 2011. But while the play sector has greeted this drive for new facilities warmly, creating so many new spaces has presented some challenges.
Here CYP Now takes a look at some of the issues identified and asks what lessons can be learned ahead of the second phase.
Timescales
Although the government's vision was set out this time last year, money for projects did not reach most local authorities until the summer - and, in some cases, as late as September. Authorities claim this was the root of most of the challenges they faced in getting the first 500 areas ready by the government's 31 March deadline.
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