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Children’s Minister Dawn Primarolo said today that over 300,000 children will have access to new and improved play areas this summer, as thousands of children across the country celebrate national Playday.

This summer children will have access to more than 530 play sites opened since last year in 63 local authorities. Three thousand more are due to be opened across by 2011 as part of the roll out of the £235 million play investment announced in the flagship Children’s Plan.

Children’s Minister, Dawn Primarolo said:

“I am delighted that so many children will have access to new and improved play areas for their summer holidays. My Department is proud to support Playday as it provides a great opportunity for us all to have fun and celebrate play. The ability to play safely and independently is one of the defining characteristics of a good childhood.

“Play is first and foremost to help children have fun, but it can also keep them happy and healthy and allow them to develop and achieve their full potential. Today we are urging all families to ‘Make time for play’ on national Playday.”

Ministers also released today a regional breakdown of what each local authority, working with local partners and communities, is expected to deliver by 2011.

Dawn Primarolo continued:

“We have released this information to make families aware of the number of play sites coming to their area over the next couple of years. Local authorities and play associations are working really hard to deliver some excellent play opportunities across the country. It is really exciting to think that by 2011 as many as 1.5 million children could have access to new and improved play areas.”

Director of Play , Adrian Voce said:

"For this year's Playday we are asking everyone to think about how to make more time for play. Parents and children have told us how important it is that there are free local play spaces to enjoy, especially when finances are tight, and so we are delighted that the government's much needed programme is going so well, and proud to play our part in making it a success.”

For a list of new play spaces visit http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/play

Editor's Notes

This press notice relates to 'England'
1) The National Play Strategy outlines the Government’s long term vision and actions to deliver safe, accessible and exciting play opportunities for all children, in response to huge demand from our Fair Play public consultation last summer. This can be found on http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/play

2) Play England is contracted by the Department for Children, Schools and Families to support, train and provide guidance to local authorities that have been allocated funding under the £235m play strategy for England. For more information on any Play England publications or work, contact 020 7843 6300 or visit http://www.playengland.org.uk

3) 89 local authorities are being offered funding from April 2009 on top of 63 already in the programme. All top tier local authorities will get at least £1m, and 30 pathfinders will get on average £2.5m to build new or significantly refurbish existing play areas.

4) In the flagship Children’s Plan and the National Play Strategy, the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) announced that £235m would be invested in play provision between 2008-2011. By accelerating roll-out and bringing £30m forward from 2010-11 to 2009-10, the Government is getting more play areas to children sooner.

5) Playday is the annual celebration of children’s right to play. The campaign is coordinated by Play working in partnership with PlayBoard Northern, Play and Play Wales. On Playday and throughout the summer of 2009, children, young people and communities will get out and play at hundreds of locally organised events across the . This year’s Playday campaign theme, Make time! highlights that all children have the right to play and need time and space to play. The campaign is calling on everyone, including parents, carers, teachers, policy makers and planners, to think about what they can do to ensure children can play. For more information about Playday and the Make time! campaign, visit www.playday.org.uk or contact Clare Quarrell on 020 7843 6044 or email cquarrell@ncb.org.uk for press enquiries.

Contact Details:
Public Enquiries 0870 000 2288, info@dcsf.gsi.gov.uk