Shaping Neighbourhoods: Children and Young People's Play and Informal Recreation SPG

Always good to hear about proposals for more play in peoples lives, especially in the urban environment. Here's hoping London lives up to the potential.


"The provision of play will become of increasing importance with the emphasis in the new London Plan on promoting quality of life and in encouraging lifetime neighbourhoods meeting the needs of all Londoners, at every stage of their lives. The draft SPG introduces or provides a greater emphasis than the previous 2008 SPG on:

• the concept of lifetime neighbourhoods and the role of play provision in meeting the needs of all Londoners, at every stage of their lives;
• the importance of ‘playable’ spaces in accommodating the presence of children in the capital and encouraging ‘shared’ public spaces that meet the needs of adults and children at the same time;
• updated child yield figures and a new tool (Excel) to calculate the requirement for play in housing developments;
• guidance on the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) to pay for play space and equipment;
• promoting healthy lifestyles; access to nature and the use of natural features; and
• community involvement and volunteering to increase the use and enhanced quality of play space provision."

This sounds excellent and definitely worth checking out. I'm particularly excited about the "access to nature" proviso......

Found via Tim Gill (who worked on the report as well).