Designing and planning for play

Play is intrinsic to a healthy childhood. High-quality play provision offers a route to fitness that is fun. For families, it offers a safe location for meeting with friends. Perhaps most of all, well designed play space helps make young people happy in their local neighbourhoods.

However, bland playgrounds are restricting children’s creativity, with local authorities relying on an identical KFC, ‘kit, fence and carpet’, approach to design.

Now, new government funding - an unprecedented £235 million investment - means that local authorities have a unique chance to transform the quality of their play spaces. This guide has been published to encourage local authorities to seize this opportunity to create spaces that allow children to use their imagination, with natural play design.