Children's Plan allocates 225m towards play areas

Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, Ed Balls launched the 'Children's Plan', which marks the beginning of a new relationship in which Government commits to working with families and their children and making sure that their needs come first.

Building on a decade of reform and results, and responding directly to parents and young people's concerns, the Children's Plan:

strengthens support for all families including during the formative early years of their children's lives;

takes the next steps in achieving world class schools;

seeks a step-change in parents involvement in their child's learning;

helps to make sure that young people have exciting things to do outside school, and more places for children to play.

He went on to announce the launch of a new national play strategy early next year, and reassure the Department's commitment in improving the childhood experience.

A total investment of £225m over the next three years we will also be able to build or upgrade more than 3,500 playgrounds across the country and to build 30 new supervised adventure playgrounds for 8-13 year olds- an average of 23 per local authority; 7 per constituency - the largest government investment in children's play in our history.

Improvemnets in facilities fr older children could see 50 new youth centers bulit. Ball states in the plan: "All children, no matter where they live or their background will have opportunities to get involved in high-quality cultural activities in and out of school".

Local authorities will also be targeted to implement planning changes. "We want to move away from the No Ball Games culture of the past so that public spaces in residentail areas are more child friendly."