New money for play

A new £155 million funding programme for children and young
people’s play facilities in England was announced by the Big
Lottery Fund last week. 

Grants will be given to projects to improve and develop
innovative facilities where children and young people can play free
of charge.

The new programme will take its lead from recommendations made
in Frank Dobson’s review of children’s play, published
in January 2004.This stated that funding should be focused on areas
with the poorest access to good quality play facilities and that
there should be a major emphasis on providing inclusive activities
that can be enjoyed by disabled children.

Adrian Voce, director of the Children’s Play Council, an
alliance of organisations working to promote play, welcomed the
money. “Hopefully this new stream of funding will give local
authorities and their partners added incentive to plan for play
strategically alongside other children’s services,” he
said.