New Labour's plan for children's play

Extremely positive announcement by the Westminster Labour government on a new "Children's Plan", in which the provision of play spaces and the validation of their exuberance and explorations is front and centre. The BBC news report quotes the relevant minister, Ed Balls (appropriately enough) as saying that "children should be both seen and heard", and is promising to:

- build play spaces for "tweenagers" (aged eight-13) with £225m to build or upgrade 3,500 community playgrounds
- put an end to "no ball games" culture - bringing importance of play into public spaces and planning
- provide £160m for positive activities for young people in sport, drama and art

"We want to move away from the 'No Ball Games' culture of the past so that public spaces in residential areas are more child friendly," says the plan. Great news for play advocates - now the question is, will they ever address the right to play for adults too...

Tim Gill, the commentator and children's advocate, made this necessary point in his Guardian blog:

there is tension between the positive vision of children's competences the plan implies, and some of the excessively risk-averse measures brought forward by government in recent years... Its policies on both antisocial behaviour and safeguarding urgently need to be rethought. If not they will undermine the goal of creating a society where young and old are more at ease with each other.