Children and the Built Environment

The places and spaces where children live are crucial for their health and happiness. We want the Government to recognise this and implement policies that prioritise children’s needs.

A Parliamentary Inquiry

In Spring 2023, Playing Out joined with allies (Fields in Trust, Tim Gill and Dinah Bornat) to call for a Parliamentary Inquiry into children and the built environment. Our proposal to the (then) Levelling Up select committee pointed out that resolving the crisis in children’s health, particularly for those facing disadvantage, requires restoring their access to everyday outdoor play, physical activity, social interaction and independent mobility. This in turn means creating streets, estates and neighbourhoods where children feel safe and welcome.

This subject has never before been the focus of a select committee – and has never been more needed – so it was a hugely significant step forward for children when the Inquiry was announced in November 2023.

With our allies, we worked hard to get the word out and over 130 organisations and experts gave written evidence from many different angles: children’s health; sport and physical activity; housing; children’s rights; equalities; safer streets and active travel. We also – of course! – submitted our own evidence, focussing on children’s need to play out safely on their doorstep, in streets and on housing estates, as well as to have more freedom to get around and access their wider neighbourhoods.

In January 2024, Playing Out was invited to present at the first oral evidence sessions at the Houses of Parliament, focussing on the importance of restoring children’s outdoor freedom for their mental and physical health. Watch the sessions here: https://vimeo.com/906420962

The February sessions focussed on the role of the built environment, with speakers powerfully conveying how children’s needs are not considered in planning policy, resulting in places that keep them essentially trapped indoors, unhealthy and unhappy.

The final session in March 2024 was a chance for the Government to respond. It was revealing and demoralising. It was clear that nobody in Government at that time was thinking about how children’s lives and health are impacted by their environments.

A new opportunity

Then, in June 2024, a general election was called and the inquiry was halted before publishing its findings.

This was hugely disappointing to everyone involved, but all is not lost! Over the past few months, our original group has been working with the TCPA to develop and publish a report, summarising the Inquiry evidence and key policy recommendations. This report, “Raising the healthiest generation in history”, was launched in the House of Lords last week.

We also have a new Government – one that has a bold ambition to raise “the healthiest generation in history”. This, more than ever before, feels like the moment to put children’s needs – including their need to get outside, play and be active – at the heart of policy.

Support from MPs

Ian Byrne MP spoke powerfully at the event, recalling that when the topic was first proposed, some on the committee questioned “whether this was really important”. He and committee chair Clive Betts MP, having grown up in Liverpool and Sheffield respectively, both knew it was. “Looking back, we realised how lucky we were. We didn’t have two ha’pennies to rub together but we had freedom and green spaces, and we were healthy, and I absolutely adored it”.

Watch Ian’s speech here.

And now…

Now, with the report, cross-party support from MPs (including Carla Denyer, co-leader of the Green Party) and a growing network of organisations and individuals all calling for change in this area, we plan to keep the momentum going until children are prioritised in Government policy across departments. There is a huge opportunity right now to bring about radical and lasting change in children’s lives, health and wellbeing through restoring their freedom to be outside – playing and being active. All those who care about children must continue working together to make this a reality.