Play cash brought forward
Local authorities in England are to receive £30m a year earlier than planned to develop children's play areas as part of the Government's national play strategy.
By next April every local authority will have received at least £1m to develop play areas. Children will have a say in the design of play spaces. There will also be more playworkers to run supervised playgrounds in the most deprived and built-up areas.
The funding, originally marked for 2010/2011, has been brought forward to boost the economy.
Children's secretary Ed Balls said, 'By rolling out our programme more quickly to local authorities, so every local authority is offered funding by April 2009, we can get better facilities available to children sooner, and support the economy at the same time.'
Eighty-nine local authorities are to be alloted around £1.1m each, adding to the 63 local areas which have already received funding.
Ten new pathfinder local authorities - Blackpool, Cornwall, Kirklees, Lambeth, Luton, Merton, Newcastle, Oxfordshire, Sandwell and Wigan - will receive around £2.5m each to create new play areas, renovate existing sites and staff an adventure playground.
The money is part of a £235m investment first announced in the Children's Plan, launched a year ago this week, for 3,500 play areas and 30 new adventure playgrounds (Analysis, 19 December 2007).
Other measures revealed on 10 December include greater responsibility on local authorities, led by Children's Trusts, to prioritise play, 'a national indicator' for children to rate play provision in their area; and guidance and training to design public spaces for children.
Play England, which has the Government contract to support the play strategy, is producing guidance and running training with local authorities and the voluntary and community sector.
