#PlayMustStay: Invest in public play spaces or children face ‘perpetual lockdown’

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In this extraordinary pandemic, alongside the tragedy of lost lives and livelihoods, there has also been a renewed appreciation of those public services we took for granted – a reappraisal of what ‘essential’ really means.

When public playgrounds were closed in the first lockdown, it brought their ‘essential’ status sharply into focus.  Because the majority of UK children live in urban areas and 1 in 8 households have no outdoor space, millions were left with nowhere to play, and those from disadvantaged backgrounds were the most affected.  And currently, despite Government guidelines to keep playgrounds open in lockdown, primarily for those families without gardens, some authorities are failing to do so plunging many families into despair.

Unless we tackle playground closures, many children will stay in perpetual ‘lockdown.’

Children were being driven indoors long before official lockdown. The combined effects of the widespread closure of play spaces in recent years and the toxic lure of screens and technology, meant that increasingly, children were spending their time indoors, sedentary and alone.  This year of lockdown after lockdown has profoundly compounded this effect.

Chair of the Association of Play Industries, Mark Hardy says: “This unique pause presents us with a rare opportunity to transform our children’s lives through the power of outdoor play.  By re-imagining our public spaces, we can reverse the alarming decline in the number of public play spaces which has quietly been taking place, local authority by local authority.   We must put children at the heart of recovery.

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