Playground building schemes axed
- Aug. 15, 2010
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Keywords:
- axed
- building
- playground
- schemes
Hundreds of community playground schemes in England have been cut or scaled back to reduce government deficit
Education Secretary, Michael Gove, has frozen grants to 132 councils, allowing schemes to continue only if the construction has already begun.
The £235 million Playbuilder scheme, started more than two years ago, planned to build 3,500 playgrounds designed by the local community. This year, however, only 1,300 playgrounds have been approved.
In a case at Oxfordshire, parent Emma Kane has said there are lots of disappointed children out there:
"The playgrounds fight childhood obesity; what does it say about the government’s strategy to cut projects that promote both health and communities working together?"
A spokesman for the Department of Education has claimed that although play is important for children as well as their families, investment has to be realistic and affordable.
He further claimed: "we hope to be able to progress these sites subject to future affordability. Those play sites that are already under construction can continue and will be paid for."
