Public Sector Initiatives & Contracts

Play England has welcomed London’s first ‘pensioners playground’, developed by the Knightsbridge Association, a local residents'' association, and funded by Westminster City Council. The Hyde Park Senior Playground will be designed to provide gentle exercise for the over-60s and will include facilities such as a cross-trainer and exercise bike.

But Adrian Voce, director of Play England, emhasised the need for pay areas for children, saying: ”Facilities like these are great for the community, but we must not forget that children have the greatest need for spaces to play. Adults have many chances to play, with huge parts of land devoted to golf courses, car parks and shopping malls. It is children who suffer most from the lack of opportunities and spaces where they can feel safe, play, outdoors and in their communities.

“Our Playday campaign, the national celebration for children’s right to play, which this year takes place on Wednesday 4 August, will promote children’s right to play freely in their communities by asking everyone, young and old, to help create better places for all of us to live and play.”

Research by University College London found that outdoor and unstructured play is one of the best forms of exercise for children. The report concluded that free play provides children with more calorific benefits than any exercise other than PE lessons. The British Medical Journal reported in 2001 that the main solution to the ''obesity epidemic'' should be to ‘reduce television viewing and promote playing.’

The report identifies that ‘opportunities for spontaneous play may be the only requirement that young children need to increase their physical activity.’

For more information about Playday and the Our Place campaign, visit www.playday.org.uk