Children in cities across England face barriers to playing outside because urban planners are prioritising housebuilding over parks, a study has found.
The research, published in the peer-reviewed journal Cities and Health, found that planners were prioritising the approval of new homes ahead of outdoor play spaces due to a combination of policy misalignment, financial constraints and pressures stemming from a lack of housing.
Emily Ranken, from the University College London Institute for Education and corresponding author of the research, said: “Our study offers a deep analysis of the challenges in embedding play into urban policy and our recommendations offer a blueprint for councils, developers, and public health leaders to make play a priority.”
She added: “Well-designed play space has so many positive knock-on effects. For children, it takes them outside, away from screens and develops their cognitive and physical skills. And for parents it helps build community ties and vital social networks.”
The study’s participants, from the London borough of Tower Hamlets and Bradford, who influence urban planning in their respective local authorities, told researchers that developers saw play space as a “nice to have”, which led to a “constant kind of challenge between building up housing and keeping enough green and open space and amenity space and play space”.
The difficulties of recruiting and retaining good local authority staff, the effects of austerity, the pandemic and Brexit were also cited as barriers to effective urban planning.
Furthermore, “well-intentioned but fragmented” urban planning policy within these local authorities was deemed to be problematic, with “play” and “physical activity” being used interchangeably.
For example, Tower Hamlets council’s “play charter” was described by participants as a “collection of catchphrases” that lacked a meaningful action plan.
Greater regulation, such as national statutory guidance requiring developers to prioritise provision of playable space over quantity of homes, could help mitigate these competing interests, said the study.
A recent study revealed that a third of children across the UK do not play outdoors after school, with children living in less deprived communities benefiting more from outdoor play than those in more deprived communities.
Dr Amanda Seims, from the Bradford Institute for Health Research and Lancaster University, and co-author of the latest study, said: “Compared to their parents’ generation, the amount of time today’s children play outside has declined by 50%. But this downward trend doesn’t have to be inevitable.
“Thoughtful planning, which listens to the voices of children and young people, can produce accessible, enriching environments where children can develop.”
Tower Hamlets council and Bradford council have been contacted for comment.
