WIREDGOV

MORE THAN 20,000 youngsters in two London boroughs will soon see a play makeover in their area after the Big Lottery Fund rolled out a near one million pounds for play provisions.

Barking and Dagenham, and Hammersmith and Fulham are all set to get their ambitious play projects underway after receiving the Lottery thousands through BIGs Children’s Play programme.

Hammersmith and Fulham’s Play Enhancement Portfolio will use their £429,000 grant to improve two local play spaces and provide activities like dance, sport, crafts, music and performing arts to around 15,000 children in the borough.

Cllr Antony Lillis, Hammersmith & Fulham Council's Cabinet Member for Community and Children's Services, said: "This is excellent news for everyone living in the borough, not just the children. The money will enable us to improve play facilities at many of the borough's parks and will make a huge difference to the thousands of children and young people who enjoy using our green spaces."

The portfolio consists of eight projects and will address childhood well-being and crime reduction with creative expression through play. Targeted at children over eight, the Play Enhancement Portfolio will also focus on engaging youngsters who feel marginalised in society including homeless children and those from refugee families.

With an award of £570,633 Barking and Dagenham are set for high quality play worker services aimed at providing free activities to nearly 7,000 children in the borough with their Planning for the Future of Play project.

Frances Basham, Play Projects Development Officer for Barking and Dagenham Borough Council, said: “This is really going to be very beneficial for children and their parents in the area. We’ve found people have a heightened perception of crime in the borough and as a result there are a lot of children who are not being allowed out to play.

“Outdoor play is vital for a child’s development and health and by introducing play rangers and play workers we will encourage kids to take part in creative, stimulating and adventurous play in safe, supervised environments. And, by providing the supervision we hope to encourage parents to allow their children out to play, safe in the knowledge that trained staff will be keeping an eye on them.”

Made up of two strands, the Planning for the Future of Play project will see 10 supervised after school play sessions– extending to 10 weekend sessions during the winter months. The Park Play Rangers will help children utilise their surroundings and help ease parent’s apprehensions of allowing their children to play outdoors and travel to nearby local parks.

The second element will allow outreach play workers from the Rainbow Plus project run by the African Youth League to travel to the areas where kids congregate and get them involved in fun, positive activities with the help of play equipment from their well-stocked play vans.

Big Lottery Fund Head of London region, Debbie Pippard, said: “Today’s awards are excellent examples of how the Children’s Play programme is a fantastic investment for children, families and communities across London. Play is a vital factor in a child’s physical, emotional and social development, so with the right play provision, we hope that people will feel confident to allow their children to play beyond the home and enjoy the wealth of benefits that play brings.”

Further information

Big Lottery Fund Press Office: 020 7211 1888
Out of hours contact: 07867 500 572
Public Enquiries Line: 08454 102 030
Textphone: 0845 6021 659
Full details of the Big Lottery Fund programmes and grant awards are available on the website: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk

Notes to Editors

The Big Lottery Fund will support children’s play with £155 million through:

• the £124 million Children’s Play programme, with funds available to every local authority area in England;
• a separate £16 million Playful Ideas programme focussing on innovation; and
• a £15 million grant to the Children’s Play Council, part of the National Children’s Bureau, to fund England-wide development and support.

• Under the Children’s Play programme, in deciding how best to allocate the available funds to each authority the Big Lottery Fund have allocated: 50 per cent of the funding on the basis of child population, and 50 per cent of the regional population living in the most deprived 20% of Super Output Areas included in the Index of Multiple Deprivation 2004. The minimum amount allocated to any local authority is £200,000.
• Under Playful Ideas registered charities; voluntary or community groups; charitable or not-for-profit companies; social enterprises; and town and parish councils can apply. However, other organisations, such as schools, can work in partnership on Playful Ideas projects.
• The Big Lottery Fund awarded a grant to the Children’s Play Council a strategic alliance of organisations working to promote the importance of play and to stimulate better play opportunities. Play England - a project of the Children’s Play Council - lead on this work by helping agencies to develop play strategies and apply for Children's Play funding. For further information please visit www.ncb.org.uk
• The Big Lottery Fund rolls out close to £2 million in lottery good cause money every 24 hours, which together with other Lottery distributors means that across the UK most people are within a few miles of a Lottery-funded project.