Children's play: 67.5m in grants for play

More than 200 grants were awarded to local authorities this month, aimed at helping them provide safe, accessible and imaginative play. The largest award of £3.3m was made to Birmingham City Council, covering playworker projects in local open spaces, play centres and a youth cafe. Three new adventure playgrounds are also planned.

Rose Jewkes, play development officer at Birmingham council, said, 'It's fantastic news for Birmingham, especially added to the money allocated in the Children's Plan, and it means all our hard work and effort has paid off. Now we will start work on delivering the projects, which will go live from April.'

The London Borough of Newham received more than £1m for its play projects, which include developing park-based play rangers to encourage outdoor play and giving a makeover to a local park play area.

The money marks the third round of funding from the Big Lottery Fund's children's play programme for improving or developing play provision (News, 5 January 2006). To access it, local authorities have to improve or develop their play strategies and ensure they work in partnership with local agencies such as voluntary and community groups.

The Big Lottery Fund is to announce further funding for children's play in January under its 'Playful Ideas' programme.

- See www.biglotteryfund.org.uk.