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Yes Ball Games – removing signs and welcoming playing out

Ingrid Skeels posted this in Children's play, health and wellbeing, Play Streets on 10/09/2024

No Ball Games! We’re all familiar with these signs around housing estates and other city spaces where children and play are not wanted. They sound specific, but in fact they read as ‘no children, no play’. And they are a blanket ban, for all children, for all time.

With children’s physical and mental health at crisis point, especially for the poorest, how can we deny children the chance to move, socialise, play and enjoy themselves outside in the fresh air, on their own doorstep? Why is adults’ right ‘to quiet enjoyment’ greater than children’s right to play? Are there not better ways councils and housing associations can solve tensions rather than blanket bans? And what would happen if we got rid of No Ball Games signs?

We talked to Steven Shaw, Environmental Manager for Aberdeen City Council and a national trail blazer who got rid of every single sign in 2015.

What is your role in the Council?

My role covers many of the council services that look after our outdoors and environment. My teams look after all green space, trees and woodland, parks, play areas, street cleaning, allotments, countryside, cemeteries and bereavement facilities. Most things outdoors!

What started your No Ball Games work?

It was quite simple. I was working with Aberdeen Green Space charity, a good partner raising money to help improve our city’s green spaces. They suggested getting rid of the No Ball Games signs, and I just thought, ‘Why not? Let’s do it!’. One of my managers joked that I could take full credit when Scotland win the Wold Cup in 2030!

How did the Council react to your proposal?

I came up against blockages at first, so I went to the Legal, Housing and Planning teams to ask what could stop it. It turned out there was nothing there! There was no legal or enforcement reason to have the signs. They had just been put up, over many years, mainly as a knee-jerk response to individual complaints. And once their status was clear, we agreed as a council to do it. We didn’t even do a consultation – we just got on with it.

How many signs were there?

Literally hundreds and hundreds, and in all kinds of spaces – small, big, parks, and even in woodland where trees had actually grown up around them. Even though we took them down in 2015/16, we are still finding them now in tucked away, strange places.

What were the challenges in taking them down?

At first, as they came down, some went immediately back up again. This is because we had not got the message out well enough to everyone, so we learnt from that. There were also people who were worried about the change, who said ‘what if… kids go crazy, break windows, target an area.’ And their words then sometimes worried me. But I held onto my original intention.

Did you do any communications around the decision?

We partnered up with the Dennis Law Trust around the messaging, which made a big difference. The Trust encourages children and young people to be active and engaged, especially through their street sport programme. They launched a positive campaign, ‘Yes Ball Games’, about the removal of the signs, and also called for signs to go nationally. They also involved design students from Grays School of Art in Aberdeen in upcycling the signs and turning them into positive play messages. All of this created a positive buzz around the changes. Some of the old signs have become works of art!

What were the responses from communities?

I can honestly say, despite all those worries, that we have had almost no negative impact from taking down No Ball Games signs. I can count on one hand the complaints or things that have gone wrong – all situations where we have needed to find a different response. For example, in response to one of them, the council planted a hedge to screen a house. That’s it! Getting rid of the signs has also had huge positive response from most people in the council and the general public. It’s as if everyone just realised it’s a good thing.

What about for children?

Street Sports and the Dennis Law Trust who both work with children and young people in communities facing disadvantage have reported a very big improvement for them and for children. They can now use any public space for their work. And I see children playing in spaces where once they were not allowed. There’s one near my house that used to be unused and is now a kick about space.

What was the cost?

There was no extra cost. As the Environment team went round to tend to spaces as usual, for example to mow the grass, they took the signs down then. In fact, we think there even might be a saving because there is no longer a need to mow around signposts or use weed killer there.

What did you do with the old signs?

At first we put them into storage. But the signs were also wanted by lots of people for their art projects or to keep, so some got new lives. The majority of signs have been binned but I’ve kept one in my garage to remind me of the success of the project.

Is there anything you would do differently?

One thing. We did it in such a ‘get on with it’ way – which is probably why it happened – that we did not think to do a survey before or after, or to analyse the use of any space. We have not even done a report after removing them. So, although it’s great we just did it and it shows it does not have to be full of challenges or long process, we don’t have any data or evaluation to share with others.

What is your council’s wider approach to community improvement?

As with most councils, over a decade ago Aberdeen City used to be a council that did everything. But over the last ten years we have fully recognised that this is no longer possible. We simply don’t have the budget or resources. And although this is a huge challenge, it has meant that we have opened our doors to others doing things, rather than trying to hold on to it all. As a result, we have many different partners and organisations in the city doing great stuff. For example, using public land for community gardening and growing.

My approach, supported by our Council leaders and Councillors, is to let them get on with it. We get far more and better things done like this in our city. It is so easy to say no to people. But I think our job as a council is to make it easy for people to do good things and and just let them get on with it.

What advice would you give to any council or body considering removing signs?

Go for it!

Playing Out: No Ball Games signs and children’s right to play

Since Playing Out began 13 years ago, residents have regularly contacted us about children not being allowed to play out where they live, prevented by No Ball Games signs or estate management and tenancy threats.

The freedom to play outside in safe space where you live is vital to children’s health and wellbeing, especially where that space is safe and traffic free. Children’s right to play is enshrined in the United Nations Rights of the Child, that most countries including the UK are signed up to.

Playing Out is doing important work with willing housing associations and councils to change approaches so that children’s needs are also considered, and No Ball Games signs can soon be a thing of the past. We also strongly represented these issues in the recent Parliamentary Inquiry into children, young people and the built environment. Other people and organisations who have done good work in this important area are: Eugene Minogue, now of Play England (Know Ball Games), Westminster Council, Redrow House Builders and Clarion Housing Association.