The Raising the Nation Play Commission has published its Interim Report, ‘State of Play’ which highlights growing barriers to play for children in England.
This report highlights how:
- Time spent playing outdoors has declined by 50% in a generation and fewer than three in ten children say that they play out on the street.
- At least 400 playgrounds, and probably more, closed across England between 2012-22.
- Over 2m children in England up to age 9 don’t live within a ten-minute walk of a playground.
- The annual park budgets for England fell by more than £350 million between 2011-23.
- Spending on play facilities across England fell by 44% between 2017/18 and 2020/21.
- The distance children are allowed to roam at the age of eight has been estimated to have fallen from six miles to just 300 yards over four generations
