Street play boosted by £1m government grant

The Department of Health (DH) confirmed that Play England, London Play, Bristol’s Playing Out and Bristol University had received £1,079,793 over three years.

The money will support the development of play streets across England, and aim to improve children’s health and wellbeing.

It was awarded through the £5.5m Innovation, Excellence and Strategic Development fund.

A DH spokesman said the funding would "help people up and down the country lead healthier and more active lives".

“It will also give organisations tools to help tackle health inequalities and improve wellbeing and this is something we support wholeheartedly.”

For London Play, the funding was welcome news after a grant worth more than £700,000 – which it had received from London Councils since 2008 – ended last month.

London Play applied for London Councils' funding programme for 2013. But a London Councils spokeswoman said it had not meet the new grant’s funding priorities of homelessness, sexual and domestic violence, employment and training, and support for community organisations.

Melian Mansfield, chair of London Play, said the DH funding showed that the government “recognises the importance of children being able to play”.

“Play streets are a low cost way of children playing out, which will bring many health and social benefits,” she said.

“We’re delighted that the government recognises? the importance of children being able to play and is willing to support a long overdue comeback.”

The consortium is deciding how it will use the money and which other play organisations may receive a portion of the funding. It will release more details later this month.