Playgrounds

16:30:00

I beg to move, That this House has considered the provision of playgrounds by local authorities. Thank you for the opportunity to lead this important Westminster Hall debate on the future of playgrounds under your chairship, Mrs Lewell-Buck. Fixing our public services and securing our unity as a country are serious issues to consider and serious goals to pursue. We need to be on the side of working people. We also need to be on the side of playing children: we need to be as serious about the play of children as we are about the work of adults. If anyone listening is in doubt, that is because our country has trivialised play for too long. I am astonished that there has only ever been one national play strategy, which was launched 17 years ago. I am also astonished that this is the first debate on the subject in eight years and—at an hour—the longest for 17 years. Is it any wonder that people feel pushed out by politics and disaffected by democracy, when playgrounds are so ignored that they have been left to fall to pieces, with large pieces of equipment missing, and largely exclude children with special educational needs and disabilities? Is it any wonder that our playgrounds are rotting, when our Parliament barely discusses them and when the last Government to invest in them—a Labour Government—did so 17 years ago, only for their £235 million programme to be cut three years later by the coalition Government? Why does it matter so much for this new Labour Government to help children to play? Let me tell hon. Members, in the words of my constituents. I launched a survey before Christmas, once this debate was confirmed; we had sought the debate following a roundtable with local parents. I am pleased to see a constituent who attended that roundtable, Anne-Marie Burr, here today. Anne-Marie helped to launch the Our Spaces BCP Facebook group, which brings parents together to campaign for better play equipment. My survey has received 642 responses, and I thank everyone who has shared their views. I have read every response and every comment on Facebook and Instagram. It is time to take the Minister on a tour of beautiful Bournemouth and of my constituents’ viewpoints. First, the main thing that parents tell me they want from playgrounds for their children is a place to grow, to experiment, to push themselves, to learn alongside others and to be free from a screen-obsessed childhood. Niamh from Springbourne says it well: “Creativity is built in these free spaces where kids create their games and realities.” Niamh’s daughter was obsessed with the monkey bars. I can relate. They have built capabilities that Niamh knows only a playground could have built. For Skye in Pokesdown, playgrounds “give children a safe place to play and explore.” For Natalie in Southbourne, “unstructured free play helps children develop in many ways, including their cognitive development”. Charlotte, also in Southbourne, agrees: “Playgrounds are essential for child development”. Playgrounds provide critical space for imaginative play, in the view of Chloe in Springbourne, Susie, Milo and Lillie-May in Southbourne, Louise and Kelly in East Southbourne, Christine, Lucy and Amy in Queen’s Park, Angela in Muscliff and Verity in Tuckton. Mark in Littledown talks about the joy that his young children feel when they play and when they develop as they play. He says that “they love to go to the park. It’s a good thing for them to do. It develops them both physically and in terms of engaging with other children”. Thomas in Southbourne sees the same joy in his children’s play: “Good playground equipment helps children to develop physical skills like bounce and grip, but most of all, they are fun!” My second point is that in a cost of living crisis, playgrounds give families places to spend time at no cost. Joanne in Muscliff is right to say that they provide free activity; that point is echoed by Nicole in Moordown, Louise in Charminster, Laura in Springbourne, Sarah in Iford, Victoria in Muscliff, Victoria in Pokesdown and Candice in Tuckton. The third point that residents have raised is that playgrounds are vital outdoor spaces for parents and families who do not have space at home. Stephanie in Littledown and Iford says it well: “For some children they do not have access to outside space at home and therefore playgrounds are vital for the health of this group of children.” Kimberly in Muscliff agrees that playgrounds provide “a place to go and meet others…lots of children don’t have access to a garden or the kind of equipment that is in a playground.” Rachel in Muscliff says it brilliantly: “We need safe outdoor spaces for our children to be able to enjoy. It also helps with reducing isolation.” When the world of children is constantly shrinking, that is even more important. My fourth point is that sadly some politicians tell children to get outside more, but it is not fair to criticise them for spending time on their screens, enjoying play in the only way they know how. It is usually the same politicians who have forced them, through policies and funding cuts, to shrink their world to their home or—even worse—to the smartphone in their hand. When playgrounds are being locked up or sold off and when parents lack safe outdoor spaces, where is left for children to go? As Alice in Boscombe says: “How can we keep our kids away from screens when playgrounds are broken, unattractive, a lot of times unkept and dirty?” What will the consequence be? Parents know that few of the social skills that children need as adults will be acquired through the scrolling of bottomless social media feeds. Anyone who has seen a two-year-old master the touch-and-swipe interface of a smartphone knows that we risk more and more children at younger and younger ages spending more and more hours scrolling through bottomless feeds. Parents are concerned. Helen in Southbourne says that “with the rise of screen time in the younger generation, we as adults must provide exciting, enjoyable and affordable alternatives.” Sian in Springbourne says that we need playgrounds “so children aren’t stuck behind screens all day.” Young brains are being rewired. We want children to be children, because that is a good thing in its own right, but we must keep it in mind that the growing number of children hooked on social media today may become a growing number of patients of mental health services and economically inactive adults, contributing less in tax to the Treasury while increasing demand on already strained publicly funded services. Just as our predecessors in Parliament passed legislation more than a century ago to protect children against work-based childhoods, we can pass a safer phones Bill to make smartphones less addictive for children. My fifth point is that playgrounds are important places for children with special educational needs and for their carers. Our lack of play spaces shrinks the world of children, but it particularly shrinks it for those with special educational needs and disabilities. Terrie from Springbourne told me: “After my autistic daughter’s school were unable to meet her needs, I ended up home educating her. The local park is a place where she can socialise, get fresh air and exercise. She genuinely looks forward to our daily park time.” Kathryn from Boscombe says: “Aside from children’s physical development, it’s also a place children (and parents) can go when mental health takes a dive. As a mum of children with SEN this is essential to our daily routine!” Terri from Muscliff says: “There is barely any accessible play equipment in our local area for children with complex needs. If a child uses a wheelchair, there is nothing that they can do in parks.” Hon. Members will be pleased to know that I am coming to my sixth and last point. Playgrounds can also help to end the isolation that parents can feel; it is not just children who benefit. Anna from Southbourne says: “On lower, more exhausted days I’ve had some really special moments of connection with parents I don’t know in playgrounds while our children play.” For Matthew from Springbourne, playgrounds offer “a place to meet friends and other parents alike.” Laura, also from Springbourne, says: “The social and psychological value of play parks as part of the fabric of a healthy community should not be underestimated. As a parent to my young daughter, the park was often the only place I might interact with other adults/parents on a given day, and it was a nexus for exchanging local information and support.” Most heartbreakingly, Mary from Queen’s Park says “Playgrounds can be a lifeline for mothers who are in distress. I have met mothers who are escaping domestic abuse, poor housing, depression, loneliness or just need a change”. In an age of isolation, polarisation and insecurity, society can be reinvigorated in the playgrounds of our country. Democracy is made in the playgrounds and given new life among the monkey bars, swings and slides and between strangers on benches. Parents may have their children as the unifying feature at first, but over time all kinds of conversations bubble up on that bench that would not otherwise have happened. This Parliament can only be as strong as our playgrounds.

My hon. Friend is making excellent progress; I love the six points that he has given us. I am happy to say that my constituency has a number of historic parks such as Alexandra Park and Platt Fields Park. However, as he points out, a third of British young people have no access to any nearby playgrounds. Surely that is not acceptable. Does he agree that we need to increase access to nature and green spaces to give children and young people better and stronger emotional and physical wellbeing?

I could not agree more. My hon. Friend is a champion for play in his area. In Bournemouth East, contact with a play area is at 35%, which is a significant problem, and I know that it is worse around the country. I ask the Minister to help. First, as we have an hour for this debate, I invite him to meet Eugene Minogue of Play England, who is here today, with visiting Bournemouth residents, such as Anne-Marie, and with me to take the matter further. Secondly, this is unfinished business for Labour. Ed Balls and Andy Burnham—whatever happened to them?—published the first national play strategy for England 17 years ago. Much of the strategy stands up today, but my view and that of important leaders in the sector is that it could be dusted off. The Minister could be the new Andy Burnham. He could be the new Ed Balls: he could help people to “Strictly Keep Playing”. The Minister and the Treasury may be reassured to know that a strategy does not necessarily require significant additional funding. All we need is changes to policy to better spend the money already in the system. Thirdly—I am eager to discuss this point at greater length—the Government could implement play sufficiency legislation for English children to achieve equality with Welsh and Scottish children. A perfect opportunity to do so exists through the planning and infrastructure Bill; that was in Play England’s general election manifesto. The Government could give playgrounds the same status as sports facilities by extending Sport England’s remit to play areas so that consideration of playgrounds becomes a statutory duty, as with sports facilities. Following this Government’s welcome change to paragraph 104 in chapter 8 of the national planning policy framework, which provides protection for formal play spaces, I would love to work with the Minister to bring that into meaningful practice. I urge the Government to mandate local authorities to map play facilities and their current state and quality. Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council has done so voluntarily, not because it was mandated. I commend BCP council for agreeing to the Plan for Play strategy—and I am not doing so purely because the Liberal Democrat spokesperson, the hon. Member for Mid Dorset and North Poole (Vikki Slade), is the last leader of the council and will respond to the debate. I commend local councillors across Bournemouth East, particularly Sharon Carr-Brown, who has been advocating for play areas in her ward of Queen’s Park and Charminster. Indeed, it reflects the advocacy of Sharon and her co-councillor for the ward to be focused on. We will see a £75,000 grant funding bid this week; if successful, that will be flexibly spent in the ward. Some good news for Cyril Gardens is that it is about to see the replacement of a long-broken toddler swing, which just goes to show that when you campaign you can get things done. In 1999, Tony Blair said: “If we are in politics for one thing it is to make sure that all children are given the best chance in life.” In 2024, the Prime Minister said that “arguably nothing says more about the state of a nation than the wellbeing of its children.” We have had such consistency over so many decades. Now is the opportunity for this Government to finish the business of the last Labour Government. I want to support this Government as they support Bournemouth children and families to improve their wellbeing. We can do no better than to start with a long-overdue, once-in-a-generation improvement of playgrounds.

Order. I remind hon. Members that they should bob if they wish to be called to speak. I will call the first Front Bencher at about 5.10 pm.

16:43:00

It is an absolute pleasure to speak in this debate; I will restrict myself to the time limit to ensure that others can speak. I commend the hon. Member for Bournemouth East (Tom Hayes) for taking the opportunity to set the scene so well. If we ask any councillor in any borough of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland about playground provision, they will say that one of the biggest issues they face—after dog fouling, of course—is not simply securing funding for play parks, but upkeep and the need for better provision of disabled access equipment. It happens all the time. I commend those in my constituency; I used to be a councillor for 26 years before I became an Assembly Member and then came to this place, so I understand where the responsibility lies. I also understand that community power can sometimes make a difference. My council, Ards and North Down borough council, was going to close the play park in Kircubbin, but community power made the difference. The community campaigned heavily and in the end it won, justifiably. The council’s play strategy states: “It is recognised that the ability to play should be available to all regardless of age, gender and ability. The delivery of fixed and non-fixed play provision should ensure that all needs are catered for. As a minimum, 30% of equipment in fixed play areas should be classified as ‘inclusive’”— so everyone can use it— “and there should be a reasonable balance of play equipment suitable for younger children 3-6 years and 7-12 years old.” That is much easier said than done, of course. Although it is great that councils have their own play strategies, the piecemeal approach means a postcode lottery. The point that I put to the Minister, from a Northern Ireland perspective, is that we do not need a postcode lottery; we need strategy, policy and regulation across all council areas. According to 97% of teachers, outdoor play is critical for children to reach their full potential. I have six grandchildren. The biggest girl is 15 and plays in the local football team. The sport and outdoor activity of my six grandchildren, aged from 15 right down to two, is so important. It boosts social skills and gives children the opportunity to let off steam. Given the recent worrying news that some 70,000 children in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland are suffering as a result of inadequate mental health support, adventurous, outdoor play is more important than ever. For those with autism, who are educationally challenged, with ADHD, dyslexia or other educational issues, it is really important. Does the Minister have any plans to deliver funding to councils to enable them to meet their obligations, to ensure that children in every area of the United Kingdom where he has responsibility to have the opportunity to meet other children, learn new skills and push themselves into new experiences, and to mention this in the discussions that he has regularly with his Northern Ireland counterparts? I believe that is imperative and that we must prioritise it. I want to make one quick point. All Christmases are special, but this one was even better for my wife and I. My younger son, his wife, their four-year-old and two-year-old are staying with us, and the wee two-year-old boy smiles all the time. There would not a day when he smiles at me—even when I may not feel like smiling—that it fails to give me a lift. The laughter of children is priceless but there is a price to be paid to achieve it, and we must be prepared to stand over it.

Order. I must now impose a four-minute limit. I call Leigh Ingham.

16:47:00

I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth East (Tom Hayes) for securing this debate on an important issue. Every child deserves the opportunity to play, not only for their health but to foster a sense of connection within their local community. That includes children with special educational needs and disabilities. Ensuring that our playgrounds are sufficient and inclusive is not simply a matter of infrastructure; it is a matter of fairness and compassion. I am concerned that there are not enough accessible parks, and that those that are accessible are not similarly so for neurodiverse children. To truly cater for SEND children, both with physical disabilities and neurodiversity, playground design must go beyond a sticking-plaster approach. We need well thought out, fit-for-purpose equipment that prioritises sensory play and safety. That includes sensory equipment items that are both functional and inviting, and spaces that are designed to reduce overstimulation. In my constituency of Stafford, Eccleshall and the villages, I have been working with some SEND campaigners, who are parents themselves: Becky, Shannon and Jess. I pay tribute to their hard work. They are particularly concerned for the safety of neurodiverse children in playgrounds. When a neurodiverse child is overstimulated, they sometimes want to run, and parents are finding themselves having to resort to harnesses to keep their children safe. The campaigners believe that high, sturdy metal fences, much like those in Victoria Park in my constituency, are essential for children who sometimes run. They are similar to those seen around old Victorian parks in many of our constituencies. These fences provide security for parents and carers, reducing the need for uncomfortable measures like harnesses. The emotional toll of exclusion is profound. Parents of neurodiverse children often describe feeling ostracised when playgrounds fail to accommodate their children’s needs. Without adequate sensory equipment or secure calming spaces, neurodiverse children may struggle to engage, leading to further isolation for the child and the family. Parents have told me that they have received comments and judgments from friends and family for using harnesses with their children. Alongside parents in my constituency, I have recently engaged with Newlife, a charity for disabled children. It provides equipment and resources to parents of children with disabilities, and its people told me about the exhaustion of parents who turn to them with their experiences. Playgrounds are not just play areas for exercise and fun but social hubs for children and parents. Many parents love that moment to sit, have a chat with other parents and let their children have fun. Caring for a child with special needs can already be exhausting and isolating, and it is not just children with special educational needs and disabilities who deserve community; it is their parents as well. More accessible playgrounds would open the world up to these families, and it is imperative that we give them access to that opportunity.

16:50:00

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Lewell-Buck. I congratulate the hon. Member for Bournemouth East (Tom Hayes) on securing this important debate. This issue matters personally to me as a mother of three children—two boys and a girl. I have watched each of them grow through unstructured play. Indeed, we chose to live near a park because I recognise the importance of parks and outdoor play. I want to ensure that every child across the country, and future generations of children, have the same opportunities to play as my children have had. As the former chair of a charity that ran the local recreation ground, I know the importance of spaces like playgrounds as hubs for the community. As policymakers, we often focus on the physical education of our children, but playgrounds are about so much more than exercise. They are where children learn to navigate risk, build relationships and develop the resilience that will serve them for life. However, according to the 2024 green space index, 2.3 million children in Britain under the age of nine, which is nearly one third, live more than a 10-minute walk from their nearest playground. That is a stark indicator of a growing play crisis in our country. Playgrounds are vital spaces where children explore their world and themselves. Through play, they develop social skills, creativity and cognitive abilities. They learn to assess and embrace risk, make decisions and form friendships. Playgrounds are incubators for resilience, teaching children the skills to thrive in a challenging world. As a former scout leader who led teams on hikes up mountains, I have seen how giving children the chance to push themselves through outdoor physical challenges really builds their self-esteem. They climb up a mountain and are scared at the top, but then they realise how successful they have been in their achievement and how brilliant the experience has been. Playgrounds offer the chance for young people to challenge themselves—to climb higher, to swing faster and to jump that little bit further. Despite the clear benefits of playgrounds for our youth, local authority budgets for playgrounds have declined drastically, with a 14% fall in annual park funding in England between 2009 and 2020. Nearly 800 playgrounds have been lost since 2013 and some councils now warn that they may need to remove or repurpose play areas simply to save money. It is shocking that, compared with the 1970s, children now spend 50% less time in unstructured outdoor play, and the 2020 British children’s play survey revealed that children aged five to 11 spend just over three hours a day playing, mostly at home or in the garden rather than in nature and community spaces. During this period of playground decline, social media and smartphones have become increasingly pervasive, replacing active play, exploration and in-person socialising with passive scrolling, socialising through their phones and being less physically active. I was a physical trainer for over 15 years and I am passionate about encouraging everyone to be more active. As a parent, I volunteered at my local primary school to support it in setting up its running club, and I saw at first hand the positive impact that physical activity has on young people. They were excited to be outside and loved focusing their energy on something other than the stress of homework. When they returned to class, they then felt calm and able to focus, which is also a benefit for teachers. The public health implications of the decline in safe public spaces to play are profound. Over half of children fail to meet the recommended daily activity levels and 37% of 10 and 11-year-olds in England are now overweight or obese. The mental health impact is equally concerning, with nearly one in five children having a probable mental health condition. The reduction in access to unstructured outdoor play, alongside the rise in children’s access to the digital world, has reshaped childhood, leading to isolation and inactivity. Every child has the right to play—to feel energised and free—yet the opportunities for that freedom are shrinking. Without urgent action, generations of children will grow up deprived of the spaces that are so essential for their development and wellbeing. I urge this Government to prioritise access to play spaces in planning and funding decisions. Decades of under-investment and poor planning must be reversed. Play is not just a part of childhood; it is the foundation for healthy, happy and resilient adults.

16:54:00

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mrs Lewell-Buck. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth East (Tom Hayes) for securing this important debate. Playgrounds are not just nice things to have. They are vital spaces where children grow, learn and thrive. In densely populated urban constituencies, like Ealing Southall in London, they are often a precious escape from overcrowded homes. But 14 years of Conservative Government have seen playgrounds and public spaces suffer under successive cuts. With councils starved of funding, playgrounds became a luxury that they could barely afford. Budgets for parks were slashed by more than £350 million and the last Labour Government’s multimillion-pound playground programme was cancelled. That led to crumbling playgrounds that were starved of cash, with councils often having to remove equipment that they could not afford to repair, and a 15% drop in the number of adventure playgrounds since 2017. The results have been devastating: there are fewer public playgrounds, and that harms children’s physical and mental health, stifling their potential before it has a chance to bloom.

I completely agree that the lack of funding for local authority playgrounds over the last 14 years has been catastrophic. In my constituency, we have had to rely on central Government funding to renovate playgrounds, in particular Haden Hill Park, next to Old Hill cricket ground. It is fantastic that we have been able to secure that funding through the towns fund—thank you, Minister—but we need to ensure that local authorities are focusing on this. Does my hon. Friend agree that it is not acceptable that, in the current environment, we sometimes rely on central Government funding to support playgrounds?

I absolutely agree that we need fair funding for local councils and for playgrounds. Access to play is a fundamental human right. It is written down in the United Nations convention on the rights of the child. There should be no argument about it, so it is heartening that the new Labour Government has immediately shown its commitment to play as a human right that cannot be denied to our children. Our changes—in some ways radical—to the national planning policy framework will, for the first time, insist that playgrounds are a consideration in all new developments. It will force developers to provide them, if we can back this up with legislation. In these changes, the Government have demonstrated a renewed commitment to a child’s right to play and their right to be supported through development. I hope this can be followed by a new national play strategy for England—the first since the last Labour Government. Research shows that many playgrounds fail to meet the needs of girls. In one study, 68% of girls said that there was nothing for them to do in the playground. Developers often tick the box by putting in a climbing frame but many girls prefer playground equipment that is social and collaborative: space to chat to their friends—swings are one example. Our future playgrounds must be inclusive, offering facilities for all children, and I hope that will be included in the Minister’s plans. Despite years of funding cuts, Labour-run councils like Ealing, which covers my constituency of Ealing Southall, are leading the charge to transform playgrounds and put children at the heart of local plans. Ealing council has already committed £2 million to renovate a staggering 22 playgrounds across the borough, including Ravenor Park, Spikes Bridge Park, Southall Park and Lammas Park in west Ealing. Ealing has worked with developers, including the developer of the Green Quarter in Southall, to ensure that developer-built playgrounds are publicly accessible. All new projects in Ealing are being assessed to ensure a minimum of 50% inclusive play, and that refurbishments consider the Make Space for Girls guidance. In my former role as deputy leader of Ealing council, I championed “play on the way”, where play features like stepping stones on the grass build-outs at the corner of a street, and a hopscotch marked on the pavement, can even weave play into a child’s walk home from school. What councils need most is secure funding from central Government, so this year’s 3.5% real-terms increase in council funding—that is £69 billion for councils—is a hugely welcome first step. I know we will hear more on this in the upcoming spending review. We need to ensure that councils like Ealing can sustain and expand playgrounds, especially in urban areas, where green and outdoor spaces are more limited. Playgrounds are not just for children; they are investments in the fabric of our society and in our future generations. To continue to achieve this Labour Government’s mission to break down the barriers to opportunity for every child, we need to keep pushing forward with our radical plans for play. It is time to reverse the damage of the past and create spaces that truly reflect the vibrant, equitable future that we want for our children.

Order. I now need to put a three-minute time limit on Back-Bench speeches.

16:59:00

It is an absolute pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Lewell-Buck, and I thank the hon. Member for Bournemouth East (Tom Hayes) for securing this debate on the important yet overlooked area of playgrounds. Many Members have articulated the advantages of playgrounds, including in relation to mental health, the fact that people live in a concrete jungle and physical activity. However, in an era in which screens dominate our children’s attention and social media replaces face-to-face interaction, playgrounds are more critical than ever. I will focus today on two overlooked benefits that they provide: tackling obesity and building community cohesion. First, let us consider the role of playgrounds in combating the epidemic of childhood obesity. The Government have laid out two vital objectives in their preventive agenda: halving the gap in healthy life expectancy, and creating the healthiest generation of children ever. Playgrounds directly contribute to the achievement of those goals through their activity. Healthy food is served in many such places, including fruit, vegetables and hot meals. For some children I know, those meals may be the only nutritious food that they receive daily. In communities where food insecurity is high, playgrounds are not just a place for fun; they are, without exaggeration, a lifeline. They ensure that children can play and thrive, fuelled by the nourishment they desperately need. Without these spaces, our fight against obesity and related diseases would become even harder. Secondly, and my constituency of Leicester South has borne this out, adventure playgrounds foster something more intangible, and that is community cohesion. Children from all walks of life unite while they are playing, breaking down race, class and culture. Playgrounds remind us of our shared humanity in a world that is increasingly divided by polarisation and conflict. As children play, they create bonds. As the hon. Member for Ealing Southall (Deirdre Costigan) mentioned, the United Nations convention on the rights of the child recognises that in article 31, which declares that play is a critical human right. Unfortunately, that right is under threat. The number of adventure playgrounds has fallen from 253 in 1980 to just 126 in 2021. Worse still, many of these playgrounds operate only for limited hours and lack resources, which means that children and the play workers do not create any meaningful bonds. Closer to home, I must raise the plight of two incredible adventure playgrounds in Leicester South: St Andrews and Highfields, where I played as a child. Both are on the verge of shutting down, despite being in areas where provision for young children is already scarce. In particular, Highfields has been a pillar of its community for over half a century, but it still lacks secure tenureship. The loss of those playgrounds would tear the fabric of the communities that they serve, so will the Minister please meet me to see whether we can save them?

17:02:00

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth East (Tom Hayes) on securing this debate. Playgrounds are a vital part of local community infrastructure, and free access to outside play space locally is something that all children should have the opportunity to enjoy. However, for disabled children and their families, this access is often not forthcoming, and I will briefly speak about that today. As part of its Let’s Play Fair campaign, Scope carried out polling on playground accessibility. It found that one in 10 disabled children have minimal or no access to their local playground. Furthermore, one in seven people said that could not enjoy playgrounds as a family, because siblings were unable to play together. Half the parents of disabled children said that there were some accessibility problems with their local playground. My oldest child is disabled. On many occasions, we have visited playgrounds that are unsafe for her due to her disability. Sometimes we can make things work; however, there are times when we just cannot. Structures are built in such a way that my husband and I cannot support her on them safely while also supervising her sister, and there are no accessible alternatives to things such as swings, which is her absolute favourite activity. She gets extremely upset that she cannot play—that she cannot take part—and who can blame her? Why is my child being told that she is not good enough to play and that my family are not welcome in this shared public space? The feeling that a community asset is not for you and your family cuts deep. I know that my daughter will face challenges throughout her life, but being able to play—to be a child—should not be one of them. I would like to address some of the misgivings about accessible playgrounds. They do not necessarily need to cost more than non-accessible playgrounds. Retrofitting is expensive, but there is no reason why disabled children and their families are not being consulted about what they would need to make their new playground accessible. Indeed, there is even an argument that local authorities and other public bodies would be failing in their obligations under the Equality Act 2010 by not doing so. Accessible playgrounds are not exclusively for disabled children. Good accessible playgrounds are inclusive playgrounds. Excellent playgrounds allow access for disabled children while maintaining and providing challenge for non-disabled children. The adventure castle at Hylands Estate in Chelmsford, the renovated playground at Wat Tyler Park in Basildon and, closer to home, Elm Road open space, or the Manor, in my patch provide accessible play equipment in a way that allows access for disabled and non-disabled children to play together. But these examples are few and far between, so I ask the Minister to encourage all those who provide playgrounds to bake accessibility into them, talk to children and their parents and finally make play spaces somewhere that all children and their families can enjoy.

17:06:00

I commend my hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth East (Tom Hayes) on securing this debate, and what a pleasure it is to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Lewell-Buck. Playgrounds are a vital resource, providing local communities with free and accessible activity space for children. Not only do playgrounds support children’s mental and physical development, but they reduce loneliness by creating hubs for families to meet and socialise. Local families choose to put down their roots in Ilford South, thanks in large part to our excellent schools and fantastic parks. Almost a third of my constituents are children, so it is critical that they and their families have access to outdoor space and playgrounds. When I served as leader of Redbridge council, I led a multimillion-pound investment programme into our playgrounds, delivering accessible equipment for local families to use. We knew that playgrounds and play spaces were as important for the physical and mental wellbeing of children and families as local libraries, as well as serving as a leveller for all social groups to be together, regardless of background or socioeconomic status.

I thank the hon. Member for Bournemouth East (Tom Hayes) for securing this debate; I have two children under three, so I am delighted to come and contribute. Does the hon. Member for Ilford South (Jas Athwal) agree that an extra benefit of investment in playgrounds is that they bring footfall into our town centres and nearby shops and cafés, thereby benefiting the local economy, too? I have one such example in Brecon at the King George V playing field, which I hope will help to regenerate our town centre.

I absolutely agree, and footfall is much needed in this day and age. Thanks to the investment, not only can families enjoy a free day out right on their doorstep, but local businesses benefit. It is important that local authorities are empowered to fund play space for children and provide low-cost or free activities and space for families to gather. Giving access to play is vital for children and families, but that is simply not reflected, or even recognised, in the legislation that is being put forward, in which, shockingly, bats and newts are mentioned more than children. By enshrining protections for children’s access to play in law, we can actively support children’s development and ensure that children living in areas with less funding are not disproportionately impacted. Introducing play sufficiency legislation is not simply about supporting children and families; it would also mark a significant step in improving equality and mental and physical health, and it would bring England in step with Scotland. While the country starts to recover from the unprecedented cost of living crisis, while fighting a decline in public health and an obesity epidemic, free and affordable play spaces, which promote physical activity, can and must play a critical role.

17:09:00

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mrs Lewell-Buck. I congratulate my neighbour, the hon. Member for Bournemouth East (Tom Hayes), on securing this debate, which has appropriately fallen on the day we are debating the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. Although we know that many of a child’s social, developmental and exercise needs are met through their learning environment and school, it would be a mistake to underestimate the importance of outdoor equipped play space. Trips to the park after school help children form strong bonds to help their resilience, but they also give parents important time outside school and home, and the chance to make good friends for life. I can attest to that with my friend Nicki, who I met 20 years ago when our daughters Molly and Becca got to know each other on the swings at Springdale park—a park, incidentally, that has fantastic inclusive play, as it was constructed very close to the local children’s hospice, and there was consultation with the hospice on what it would need. In a 2019 Mumsnet survey, one in four parents said that a lack of outdoor play had contributed to their children’s mental health issues. That is before covid saw them locked up, and councils’ financial crisis saw the gates stay locked when councils simply did not have the money to fix the equipment. Lib Dems believe that playgrounds play a vital role in community engagement, child development and physical and mental health for children, young people and their families. We welcome the Play England amendment to the national planning policy framework, which will protect play and lead all developers to fulfil their responsibilities. Residents in Wimborne in my Mid Dorset and North Poole constituency have real concerns—I have raised them before with the Minister, which he will remember—about promised play areas in their developments that turn out to just be a bench, a Tellytubby hill and a dog bin. The residents then have to pay extra to maintain the non-play area. As the hon. Member for Bournemouth East said, the last major play investment project was under the last Labour Government, called Playbuilder. Unfortunately, as fantastic as that equipment was, it is now failing. In 2023, The Guardian reported that the average budgets for parks had fallen in real terms by more than a third. In BCP, as has already been referenced, a plan for play has been developed, with a vision to provide high-quality, accessible, safe and inclusive play. I completely accept the hon. Member’s criticism of the equipment in Bournemouth. I just say that the previous Conservative-led Bournemouth council did not bother to insure its play equipment, which meant that every time there was an act of vandalism, the community would have to pay to fix it. That cannot be allowed. As a result, the new Lib Dem-led council is now using £3.9 million of the strategic community infrastructure fund to address this. In my ward, we had a playground that was taken out in the 1980s, which the community worked together to re-imagine. Colin and Caroline put two years’ work in, and more than £100,000 was raised from the community with help from the council, but it should not come down to that. Parishes and neighbourhood forums are able to do their bit, but until this is made a statutory requirement, it is impossible for councils that have statutory requirements for social services and housing to put this as a priority. Liberal Democrats would love to see the Government work with councils on sustainable settlements that allow them to invest not just in the basics, but in activities to build happy lives for everyone. Every community needs play, and I agree with the hon. Member for Ealing Southall (Deirdre Costigan) about considering girls and incidental play as well, especially when families have no gardens and limited access to nature, and the only safe place left is the park. If we want happy, healthy children to become resilient, problem-solving and active adults, we need to act now. I welcome the Minister becoming the next Andy Burnham, and would love to see a Playbuilder 2, but this time, could we please have equipment that is fully inclusive for children with disabilities and neurodivergence, and of all ages and genders? It should also be sustainable and not a one-off, so that the equipment does not have to be locked up again in 10 years’ time.

17:13:00

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Lewell-Buck. I congratulate the hon. Member for Bournemouth East (Tom Hayes) on securing this debate. His speech this afternoon has shown Members in the House that his half of Bournemouth are very lucky to have him. He is lucky to have them too, and I know that he works very hard for his constituents, considering that he has been a friend for a number of years. Playgrounds are essential to the physical and mental wellbeing of our children. They are places where children exercise, build social connections and foster creativity, yet the provision of playgrounds by local authorities remains uneven across the country, with concerning disparities that demand our attention. According to the Fields in Trust group’s green space index, an alarming 2.3 million children in Britain under the age of nine—31% of the total—live more than a 10-minute walk from their nearest playground. Even more troubling is the fact that 40% of councils report that over a third of children face that challenge, with some areas seeing the figure rise as high as 65%. That disparity reflects the struggles that local authorities face in maintaining playgrounds. Budget constraints mean that some councils have been forced to remove or repurpose play areas, depriving communities of vital green spaces. Regional variations further highlight the inequality. For example, children in Scotland enjoy access to nearly five times more public playgrounds than their peers in London. Welsh children have access to more than twice as many playgrounds as those in London. The previous Government recognised the importance of improving access to quality green spaces, with initiatives such as the £9 million levelling up parks fund and an additional £30 million of investment focused on improving facilities for young families. The funding aimed to enhance green spaces in deprived areas, support tree planting and improve play areas, with up to £85,000 available per area. The measures were complemented by nearly £60 billion of funding for local authorities in 2024-25, which was a 9.4% increase compared with the year before, with most of the funding left un-ringfenced to promote local choice. The Conservative party firmly believes in empowering local authorities to make decisions to best suit their communities, but central Government must also ensure that councils are equipped with sufficient resources to deliver essential services such as playgrounds. The revised national planning policy framework provides an opportunity: as hon. Members have outlined, play spaces will now be included, which I welcome, but that needs to be enforceable under the NPPF. As outlined by the hon. Member for Mid Dorset and North Poole (Vikki Slade), we often find that developers promise things to local people, but local authorities cannot take the enforcement action necessary to ensure that those facilities are built. I have found that within my own constituency, which has seen excessive development. I look to the Minister to enforce that action through the NPPF, and through regulatory statutory instruments if need be, so that local councils have the power to ensure that those services are provided. Unfortunately, challenges persist. The Local Government Association has estimated that the employer national insurance contribution hike will cost councils £1.77 billion, yet only £515 million of new funding has been provided to support the increase. The shortfall puts further strain on local budgets, making it even harder to maintain and improve local playgrounds. I hope the Minister knows that I often try not to be too political, but the decision in the last Budget to scrap the charitable status of private schools means that facilities provided for local children in local areas by private schools may be taken out of service. That will affect all kinds of children who are entitled to use the many playgrounds that private schools provide. To wind up, the provision of playgrounds is about more than just swings and slides; it is about investing in our future, fostering healthier communities and ensuring that every child has the opportunity to thrive. I say to the Minister that we are willing to work together to protect and enhance these vital spaces, recognising their role in creating a fairer and healthier society.

17:18:00

It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair for the first time, Mrs Lewell-Buck. I know that you are always fair, but I know that you can be hard as well, if need be—hopefully I will not stretch the Chair’s patience today. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth East (Tom Hayes) for securing this debate and for the way in which he has led it. He took us on a beautiful tour of Bournemouth, but I most enjoyed the way that he brought the views of his constituents into the room and on to the record—to get 640 responses to anything is quite something. It shows the amount of energy and interest in Bournemouth, but clearly, judging from the contributions of colleagues, that energy and interest is replicated across the country. Playgrounds are a vital part of our social infrastructure. As we have heard, they contribute to the health and development of our children and young people across the nation. Importantly for us as a Government, they also build on our mission of opportunities for all by ensuring that everyone has the best start in life. I pay special tribute to the parents who my hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth East referred to, and I commend them for the insights that they gave to him and that he has been able to give to us. I also recognise Councillors Millie Earl, Sandra Moore and Andy Hadley, and Rebecca Whelan-Edmonds and Barbara Uphoff, for their work on a play strategy in Bournemouth —there is clearly something very special going on in the area—and Councillor Sharon Carr-Brown for her work to improve the quality of play in her ward and beyond. I also thank Eugene Minogue and Play England for its work, including the support it has given to Bournemouth and to my hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth East. He asked me some specific questions, which I will come to later, but I will first pick up on a couple of the themes that were echoed by other hon. Members. First, it is important to start with the principle that unstructured, free play is important in child development. Fun in general is important—it is not all about development; children have to be able to enjoy themselves and we need to make sure that the spaces are there. We have a strong, able and technically evolved competitor for our children’s education: screen time is part of this conversation. The answer in such circumstances is never to smash the machines; we cannot unlearn the technology, so we have to compete. If the alternative is compelling, our offer must be compelling. I will make a couple more points on that later. At a time when the cost of living challenges mean that parents are making difficult choices, those offers have to be there and they have to be accessible. My hon. Friend and a number of other hon. Members said that this is also about social justice. For many in my community, the Bulwell Forest is their garden. They do not have the garden of their own, so that is their play area, as my hon. Friend the Member for Ealing Southall (Deirdre Costigan) said. As my hon. Friend the Member for Ilford South (Jas Athwal) said, play and parks should be a great leveller and accessible to all—just walk up and pitch in. Too often, however, that is not the case for children with a disability, as my hon. Friend the Member for Thurrock (Jen Craft) said, nor is it for neurodiverse children, as my hon. Friend the Member for Stafford (Leigh Ingham) said. Whatever plans we bring forward, we have to weave in accessibility. We need to seek to tackle those inequalities. I will make a few points on where we are as a Government and address the questions from my hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth East. The early years of childhood are crucial for the healthy development of our children, and physical activity is at the root of that, but as the hon. Member for Leicester South (Shockat Adam) said, we face a real challenge around childhood obesity. Over 2 million children in this country do not do 60 minutes of physical activity each day—that problem is coming down the line for us. I will of course meet with the hon. Gentleman to talk about the adventure playgrounds in his community. We know that this is a social justice issue, as I said, because the levels of activities are lowest among the poorest children, children from ethnic minority backgrounds and girls. Factors such as poverty, lack of access to safe green spaces and poor local natural resources contribute to this inequality. We also know that parents are increasingly concerned about the welfare of their children and about antisocial behaviour, which plays into the Government’s crime mission. We have to make sure that we have community policing to give reassurance. The lack of physical activity among children needs to change, and active play is one of the key ways that we can make that change and get children exercising, stretching their minds and, as the hon. Member for Epsom and Ewell (Helen Maguire) said, building skills, problem solving and building resilience—all of those come through active play. Whether it is at adventure playgrounds, sports facilities or park playgrounds, or in the natural environment, all those things need to be present and accessible for our children. We have a lot of parks and green spaces in this country —27,000 of them. They are much-loved local assets and can provide opportunities for free. As has been said, that reflects the cost of living. The great thing is that our children are telling us the answer. As so often in politics, if we stop talking for long enough, generally people will tell us the answer. The 2024 children’s people and nature survey for England tells us that the single most important factor for encouraging children to go outside is access to playgrounds. We tear our hair out about why our children are not out more often, which comes up in debates, as hon. Members have said, but the answer is there ready for us—access to playgrounds. Local authorities are at the root of this. Five in every six of our urban parks are managed by local authorities. The hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) talked about community power. The local authority’s connection to local communities is about empowering them; I have no desire, as the Minister, to make granular decisions about play parks in Stoke, Stockport, Bournemouth, Thurrock, Ealing or wherever. I have very strong views about Nottingham, but my role as Minister is to get the powers and the resources to those communities to shape things for themselves. The hon. Member for Epsom and Ewell talked about some of the pressure that councils have been under in recent years. There is no doubt that playgrounds have been seen as a discretionary, non-statutory service. As a result, we have seen the decline that she talked about. I am very proud that the recent Budget had the best settlement for local government, with significant resources being made available. That will start to see some of those important services being built back. I am passionate about, and could speak all day on, the Green Flag award scheme, and I thank super-judge Chris Worman for the work that he is doing. That is a really good way of ensuring that we have quality offerings, of which we have over 2,000 in the UK. In the Department we have novated the parks working group to build on that work, and Chris is playing a big part in that. I am going to ask that group to expand to ensure that play parks and playgrounds are part of that conversation, so that we are tackling some of the inequalities and the accessibility issues. I will address the specific asks of my hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth East. First, I would be delighted to meet Eugene Minogue from Play England to discuss the issue. I am very keen to meet my hon. Friend’s constituents, and having had the aural tour of Bournemouth, I am keen to have the physical one. With regard to the 2008 play strategy, I am going to deftly sidestep any historical comparisons to individual politicians and say that as part of our opportunities Government mission, we are working with sector experts around play provision and will build on what has been done in the past. I steal liberally from what has been done before—often there is not much that is genuinely new—so we will building on that strategy and making significant reference to it in our work, while making it fit for the modern day. We are going to take a similar approach with regard to play sufficiency legislation. I want to follow the evidence with the experts in communities, and I want to understand more about Scotland and Wales, because there is clearly a distinction and difference there, and about where the law could augment that. I would not want to run ahead of that work. My officials are working with those in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to look further into sports fields, and I will keep my hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth East updated. On mapping play facilities, we want to get the burden on local authorities right so that we do not put too much on them. We are looking at other ways of doing it, however, because it is an important goal. One of the biggest driving factors beyond quality is distance. My community is a former mining community, so we have lots of country parks and people think that we are well provided for, but the gates are never on our side, which is a cause of great frustration. It is therefore about ensuring that we know what the distances are, as well as being about access. There is a significant correlation between mental health across the population and the distance to green and open spaces. Rather than asking local authorities to map play facilities, last August the Office for National Statistics produced work on access to green space for the first time, and we are committed to further refining that work to ensure that it is doing the job. Similarly, the Green Flag award scheme provides a map of where the highest-quality facilities are. We are keen to get that mapping right, and to ensure that we understand that equity piece and which communities may need greater support. I am conscious that my hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth East will need some time to wind up. I look forward to meeting him and his constituents, and I look forward to working with hon. Members in the spirit referred to by the Opposition spokesperson, the hon. Member for Hamble Valley (Paul Holmes), and by other hon. Members throughout the debate.

17:28:00

I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Stafford (Leigh Ingham), the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon), my hon. Friends the Members for Ealing Southall (Deirdre Costigan) and for Halesowen (Alex Ballinger), the hon. Member for Leicester South (Shockat Adam), my hon. Friends the Members for Thurrock (Jen Craft) and for Ilford South (Jas Athwal), the hon. Member for Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe (David Chadwick), who is no longer here—if I have mispronounced the name of his constituency, I apologise—and everyone else who has spoken in the debate. I thank the Conservative and Liberal Democrat spokespeople, the hon. Members for Hamble Valley (Paul Holmes) and for Mid Dorset and North Poole (Vikki Slade), and the Minister for their comments. In bringing forward the debate, I wanted to ensure that the people of Bournemouth East were heard. As the Minister said, the fact that 642 local residents responded to the survey shows that there is an enormous appetite for something better when it comes to play. I want to communicate to the people of Bournemouth East that their priority will be my priority and, clearly, from what we have heard from the Minister, the Government’s priority. If we do not invest in our children by investing in play, we are sending entirely the wrong signals. After all, all our children, all over our country, deserve nothing less than the very best childhood. Question put and agreed to. Resolved, That this House has considered the provision of playgrounds by local authorities.

17:29:00