Call for playgrounds in new housing schemes

A capital-wide voluntary organisation is calling on housing
developers to ensure that enough outdoor play opportunities are
built into new plans.

London Play, which supports and develops children’s play
services across the capital, says the government’s Five Year
Action Plan to deliver 1.1 million new homes in the South East by
2016 must integrate outdoor play facilities into the new housing
designs if it is to head off ‘entirely preventable’
problems.

The numbers of under-18s in London will rise by an estimated
200,000 by 2016, and they will need outdoor play areas near their
homes, in parks and open spaces, in supervised and unsupervised
facilities, says London Play’s director Ute Navidi.

The plan, announced in January, should involve children and
young people right from the initial design stage, said Dr
Navidi.