At a play conference last month, culture minister David Lammy said he did not view a national play strategy as the direction of travel for the Government.
Instead, he said, future policy would be grounded in a local context as initiatives such as local area agreements and children's trusts come on stream. The minister also spoke of a 'let's move forward and make this stuff happen' approach, rather than being preoccupied with a national strategy that takes time.
Tim Gill, former director of the Play Council, said he was disappointed but not surprised at the minister's words. He stressed changes should already be happening at ground level.
Mr Gill pointed out that play had 'no profile' in the work coming out of Every Child Matters and said there was no evidence of good practice around public play space in new housing developments, or a sensible focus on playgrounds in school plans.
'Billions is being spent on transforming the fabric of schools in the Building Schools of the Future programme, but there's next to nothing on playgrounds,' he said.
'We need leadership from the lead member for children's play to get other local Government departments and local authorities involved on the ground.
What we're looking for is a greater sense of urgency and priority. If we get it right, generations of children will benefit. If we get it wrong we've lost our best opportunity to get it right in the future.'
Anne Longfield, 4 Children chief executive, said ministers should be looking at both strategy and investment together to avoid the early setbacks of the Ten-Year Childcare Strategy.
She said, 'There needs to be a policy space (for play) with a policy strategy backed up with investment to implement the strategy, otherwise it ends up rattling round the edges of everything else.'
Ms Longfield said the Big Lottery Fund's 155m programme for play in England should be viewed as a pilot step. 'This is useful for building the case for longer term investment and political backing for (play) to become mainstream once the lottery funding finishes.'
Adrian Voce, director of the Children's Play Council, added, 'The Government said in its manifesto it would be working towards ensuring better play opportunities were available for disadvantaged children. Our own survey in 2002 identified a lack of strategic development and a constant decline in provision. Unless there's a strategy to achieve this it's hard to see how it's going to happen to the degree it needs to.'
