Next gov urged to improve children's access to playgrounds

Charity Fields in Trust is calling on the new government to appoint a Minister for Children and Young People and to ensure that children’s right to play is secured by access to spaces. 

New research from charity has found that 2.3 million children in Britain under the age of nine live more than a ten-minute walk from the nearest playground.

Their new research highlights a growing concern about the accessibility of playgrounds, with far-reaching implications for health, wellbeing, and physical activity levels.

These findings are part of this year’s Green Space Index, a unique annual barometer of publicly accessible park and green space provision across Great Britain.

Helen Griffiths, chief executive of Fields in Trust, said:“The upcoming General election is an opportunity for the new government to take the action needed to reverse years of damage to families and communities.
 
“We have seen an overwhelming interest in the access to parks, green spaces, and playgrounds agenda.
 
“We must take this opportunity for every party to put children’s access to play at the top of their election pledges. But we need to go beyond vague promises, which is why we have created our ‘A Better Future For Parks and Green Spaces’ manifesto with a set of asks that will deliver a future that parks, people, and nature deserve.
 
“It’s time, now more than ever, to take parks and play seriously.”

The charity said that decades of underinvestment and poor planning choices are some of the driving factors behind the current situation with nearly 800 playgrounds facing closure since 2013.
 
They also found varying levels of provision across the nation, with four out of 10 councils having more than a third of their children living further than a ten-minute walk from a playground which alarmingly rises to two-thirds of children in some areas. 
 
In one instance, 65 per cent of children live more than a ten-minute walk from their nearest playground. Councillors warn that they simply cannot afford to maintain all its sites, with some play areas having to be “removed or repurposed” to save money. 

Local authority funding for playgrounds has also significantly declined, with the annual park budget in England falling by 14 per cent between 2009 and 2020. 
 
Fields in Trust has calculated that on average, a single playground serves 376 children aged up to 9. They found that in more deprived areas, there is a higher density of children relying on a space to meet their needs leading to overcrowding and unfair access to recreational spaces.
 
Paul Lindley OBE, Founder of Ella’s Kitchen, entrepreneur, and children’s campaigner said: “It’s staggering that one in three children live more than a ten-minute walk from their local playground. This fact alone shows that the needs of children simply aren’t a priority for too many decision makers.

“As part of a commitment to a better future for all our children we need to make sure they can access places where they can play, learn and grow. That’s a right, not a privilege.”

The charity revealed an equally bleak outcome when expanding its research to all public parks and green spaces, with 6.3 million people in Great Britain living more than a ten-minute walk from their nearest green space.