- Area:
- West Midlands
- Programme:
- Childrens Play
- Release date:
- 20 2 2007
Children’s play schemes in Nuneaton and Solihull will use nearly £702,000 to create and refurbish play areas and hire Play Rangers to engage children in play.
Funding for the schemes comes from a £12 million cash pot, from BIG’s Children’s Play programme, which is being shared today among 32 local authorities across England.
A grant of £282,000 will help Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council to deliver improvements in the quality of outdoor play provision. Three teams of Park Rangers will support and enhance outdoor play improvements through the Outdoor Play Programme by engaging children to help design play areas and play activities. The funding will also create a new high quality play area at Marston Lane Fields.
Councillor Tony Lloyd, Cabinet Member for Culture and Recreation at Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council, said today “I am extremely pleased with the outcome of this application. Children and parents have told us that they want more staff in the park offering more activities and helping to improve safety. Today’s announcement demonstrates again our commitment to providing the best opportunities for local children.”
Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council will use a grant of £420,000 on three projects that focus on providing challenging, outdoor play opportunities for children. A Play Ranger service will work alongside park rangers in green spaces to encourage fun and safe play in public places, an adventure play area will be installed in Meriden Park, Chelmsley Wood, and open access play provision will be made available during school holidays around community and school sites.
Helen Jackson, Programme Manager, said: “The Solihull Play Partnership is delighted to have been successful in gaining the Big Lottery Fund grant for Children’s Play. The grant will allow Solihull to develop two new outdoor play services by establishing a play ranger team and adventure play area. Open Access Play Days during school holidays will further increase local play opportunities for children and young people. All these projects will work within the Three Free Principle; free of cost, free to choose; free to come and go as you like.”
John Taylor, Big Lottery Fund Head of West Midlands Region, said: “Play Rangers are a great way of engaging children, it will also give them a say in the design of their own play areas creating a focus for young people’s energy, enthusiasm and ideas. A great deal of work has gone into designing these strategies and I look forward to seeing the resulting schemes in action.”
The Big Lottery Fund’s Children’s Play programme has allocated £124 million to local authority areas, to help improve or develop play provision. To access the funding, local authorities have to develop appropriate play strategies and ensure they work in partnership with local agencies such as voluntary and community groups. Local authorities will use the funding to manage portfolios of local play projects across their areas.
Further Information
Big Lottery Fund Press Office: 020 7211 1888
Out of hours contact: 07867 500 572
Public Enquiries Line: 08454 102030
Textphone: 845 6021 659
Full details of the Big Lottery Fund programmes and grant awards are available on the website: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk
Notes to Editors
- The Big Lottery Fund will support children’s play with £155 million through:
- the £124 million Children’s Play programme, with funds available to every local authority area in England;
- a separate £16 million Playful Ideas programme focussing on innovation; and
- a £15 million grant to the Children’s Play Council, part of the National Children’s Bureau, to fund England-wide development and support.
- Under the Children’s Play programme, in deciding how best to allocate the available funds to each authority the Big Lottery Fund have allocated: 50 per cent of the funding on the basis of child population, and 50 per cent of the regional population living in the most deprived 20% of Super Output Areas included in the Index of Multiple Deprivation 2004. The minimum amount allocated to any local authority is £200,000.
- Under Playful Ideas registered charities; voluntary or community groups; charitable or not-for-profit companies; social enterprises; and town and parish councils can apply. However, other organisations, such as schools, can work in partnership on Playful Ideas projects.
- The Big Lottery Fund awarded a grant to the Children’s Play Council a strategic alliance of organisations working to promote the importance of play and to stimulate better play opportunities. Play England - a project of the Children’s Play Council - lead on this work by helping agencies to develop play strategies and apply for Children's Play funding. For further information please visit www.ncb.org.uk
- The Big Lottery Fund rolls out close to £2 million in lottery good cause money every 24 hours, which together with other Lottery distributors means that across the UK most people are within a few miles of a Lottery-funded project.
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