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Home > Blog > Children's play, health and wellbeing > “We think about bins and cars more than children”
Alice Ferguson

“We think about bins and cars more than children”

posted this in Activism, Children's play, health and wellbeing, Street Space on 29/02/2024

On Monday 26th February the Parliamentary Select Committee Inquiry into Children, Young People and the Built Environment held its second session to hear oral evidence from a range of experts about how and why we should be creating child-friendly streets, public spaces and cities.

Expert witnesses

The experts at this second session were Tim Gill, Author, Consultant and Global Advocate for children’s play and mobility; Dinah Bornat, co-founder of ZCD Architects, an award winning design practice with a people focused approach; Jo McCafferty, Director at Levitt Bernstein, Sarah Scannell, Assistant Director of Planning, Birmingham City Council and Jonny Anstead, Founding Director of TOWN. You can watch the full recording of the session above.

“I want to flag up the importance of mobility in all of this – ‘how do children get around in their neighbourhoods?’. When you talk to almost anybody about this – neighbourhoods, housing, built environment, kids – you’ll immediately get drawn into conversations about playgrounds. Yes we need more play areas, and I’m not saying that play areas and play facilities are not important, but the evidence from the science, about how you get more children out and active, is pretty clear that the single most important influencing factor, on what makes neighbourhoods places where children can go out, spend time outdoors and play, those factors are to do with mobility and transport. They’re to do with children being able to walk easily around their neighbourhoods, and crucially, being safe from the threat of traffic.” Tim Gill

Summary of key points from the session

Panel 1:

Tim: Children’s access to outdoor play is very linked to their mobility. Children need to be able to get out and about near home in order to access outdoor spaces. This freedom depends on safe streets, free from traffic danger.

We need a ‘child lens’ on policy. This would result in neighbourhoods that are not only child-friendly but also good for community, environment and public health.

Dinah: The space immediately outside children’s front doors is of vital importance. This needs to be made safe and accessible so children can play out together on an everyday basis. It is this informal ‘playing out’ in shared spaces that most adults remember and value from their own childhood, more than designated playgrounds.

Both: Government departments are ‘playing pass the parcel’ with this issue – there is no ownership or responsibility for children’s wellbeing. Cross-dept working on this – and a lead within Government – is desperately needed.

Dinah: Children’s needs are currently ‘completely ignored’ in planning.

Dinah: It is important to involve children and young people in the planning process and do this well, following existing best practice.

Tim: However, we can’t rely on children and young people to come up with all the answers. Adults, especially those in positions of power, have a responsibility to consider and meet children’s needs.

Dinah: Children need and want to be part of a community when growing up and this means being out, in shared space with others.

Tim: Whilst ‘not everyone wants children outside their house’, this tension – learning to deal with challenges and negotiate different needs – is “not a bug but a feature” of children having the freedom to be outside. This is how and where children learn to be part of a community, part of society.

Dinah: Tower blocks were never originally intended for children but many children now live in them. We need to look at what’s not working for children and what is – and to be “continuously learning” in this area.

Ian Byrne MP: We need to make children’s wellbeing and access to outdoor space a “political hot potato” that can’t be avoided.

Housing in a ‘sea of tarmac’ is failing children (and everyone).

“I think it’s an interesting point that you made about memories of play and how important they are. I moved around quite a lot when I was growing up, and I seem to remember living in this one place for a very long period of time. I was reminded that I only lived there for one year, but it felt like I lived there for about three or four, because that was actually where I played the most. And that has opened my eyes to how important this inquiry is.” Tom Hunt MP

Panel 2:

Jonny: Very little is expected from house builders. Children are never more than a ‘tick box’ and developers only need to provide a small, fenced-in play area (at most). Very convenient. Those who want to do more are hit by challenges. It’s not an exaggeration to say we are encouraged to think more about bins and cars than about children.

There’s a real need for more incentives and good examples to follow. Creating child-friendly housing isn’t about spending more money, just a different use of space.

Jo: When you ask children and YP what they want and need, they can tell you. They understand the details that matter – how they access space. But children are never considered within house-building. The planning process should mandate their involvement.

Good developers are at a disadvantage, as there’s no requirement on others to properly consider children or meet their needs. Most just meet minimum space requirement – no quality.

Jonny: Currently no framework or guidance for developers to follow. Need local and national design codes and a consensus around “what good looks like”. Would help create level playing-field.

Jo: Play space only “counted” in planning system if fenced-in, designated – can be very poor quality. No value given to creating much better, wider playable, child-friendly space.

Tom Hunt MP: Never heard children mentioned at a planning committee meeting.

Sarah: Absolute starting point has to be a very clear mandate in NPPF to ensure children’s needs are considered/met – and this has to translate to all local plans. A child-lens must be applied to any new scheme. Child-friendly development is positive for everyone – about creating spaces that work well into the future.

People want to live in places that are good for children. But currently there’s very little choice for home-buyers.

Jo: Meeting children’s needs is not in competition with other important needs or outcomes (e.g. biodiversity net gain) but supports them. Main thing we need is a readjustment of the hierarchy, of our priorities. And children and young people should be top.

See the first evidence session...

...here!

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