OPEN LETTER TO GOVERNMENT
To: Angela Rayner, Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG)
Bridget Phillipson, Secretary of State for Education (DfE)
Lisa Nandy, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS)
Wes Streeting, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (DHSC)
Louise Haigh, Secretary of State for Transport (DfT)
Cc: Keir Starmer, Prime Minister
22 July 2024
Dear Secretaries of State,
Re: First Steps for Change - The Importance of Play!
Once upon a time . . . children had the freedom to play! Like me, most of you grew up in the 1980s and I am sure you have very fond memories of playing with friends and family, freely in the street where you lived, your local park, your school, your adventure playground, and your wider community. Arguably, we were the last generation that had the freedom to play, as the decline of play-based childhood began in the 1980s and accelerated in the 1990s.
As you will know from your own childhood, play is vital for all children. It is the main way children enjoy their daily lives, make friends, and learn about the world around them. Through play children develop social, physical, and cognitive skills, creativity, cultural awareness, and resilience. They learn to manage and benefit from risks, make decisions, and develop their identities. Play is essential for happy, healthy, capable, and resilient children.
However, children today are experiencing many barriers to play. As freedom and opportunities to play have declined, so has their physical and mental health as a result. It is therefore vitally important that the new government urgently address the decline in children's play over recent decades.
The planning system in England fails to protect, enhance, or provide spaces and places that support children’s health, development, and wellbeing. In too many towns and cities, traffic-dominated neighbourhoods, low quality housing layouts, inadequate facilities, and poorly designed housing estates, along with a lack of parks and green spaces, harm children’s wellbeing, undermine their quality of life and deprive them of critical infrastructure that they need.
Many of the problems set out above have multiple causes. However, foremost amongst them are the failures in the current planning system. In England, children are all but ignored within the national planning policy framework (NPPF). For example, the 2021 NPPF makes only one single mention of children. Currently, no other planning guidance addresses children explicitly. By contrast, bats and newts are amongst the species covered by national planning guidance.
This was raised and discussed at length during the recent Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (LUHC) Commons Select Committee inquiry on Children, Young People and the Built Environment. This subject has never previously been the focus of a select committee inquiry and has never been more needed.
The inquiry received 132 submissions of written evidence from various cross-sector organisations and experts. The submissions are stark, compelling, and powerful in demonstrating the need for change.
Unfortunately, due to the Dissolution of Parliament on 30 May 2024, all committees ceased to exist. As such, there is no guarantee that a committee report and/or a government response will be published. Any new committee should consider re-opening the inquiry and publish a report – and for the government to respond and act on the recommendations.
There are nearly 12 million children living in England, yet they have no effective voice within, or mechanism for influencing, the current planning system. Therefore, Play England are calling for meaningful change within England’s planning system as part of the government’s legislative programme set out in the King's Speech, through the introduction of play sufficiency legislation and a new national play strategy.
Play Sufficiency Legislation
Introduce Play Sufficiency legislation in England as part of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill
The introduction of Play Sufficiency legislation in England (as set out in our manifesto) would ensure that all children, young people, and families have access to enough time, space, opportunity, and permission to play and recreation throughout all aspects of their daily lives. It would protect, provide, and enhance opportunities for play and recreation at home, at school, in parks and public spaces.
Legislation should cover (but not be limited to) the following three key areas:
1. Spaces and places - spaces and places for play and recreation.
2. Workforce - qualifications, registration, and regulation.
3. Provision - high-quality, inclusive play services.
An equivalent duty has been in place in Wales for over a decade, and in May 2023 a play sufficiency duty was introduced in Scotland, leaving England lagging behind.
A National Play Strategy
Develop a new National Play Strategy for England as part of the Children’s Wellbeing Bill
There has been no national play strategy in England since 2008, which was developed by the last Labour government, together with Play England.
We, and sector partners, stand ready to support government in addressing the decline in children's play by developing a new, cross departmental national play strategy. This strategy would ensure that play sufficiency legislation is brought into meaningful practice, and that England becomes a child-friendly country where all children have freedom to play at home, at school, in parks and public spaces.
Delivering these first steps will depend on bringing together your governmental departments (MHCLG, DfE, DCMS, DHSC, and DfT) with national agencies, stakeholders, and children (as we did in 2008) to ensure that the importance of play is recognised, valued, and protected across government and wider society.
Together, we can deliver transformational change and secure a legacy for our future generations by giving children their childhood back!
Eugene Minogue
Executive Director (Former child, and now big kid!)
Whilst the response is appreciated, unfortunately it further underscores the very issue of the failures in the current planning system and why meaningful change is required via the introduction of introduction of play sufficiency legislation and a new national play strategy.