Children, young people and the built environment

Children and young people (under the age of 18 years) make up over a fifth of the UK population. Their freedom to play outside or travel around local neighbourhoods, unsupervised by an adult, has declined over the last century. Across the UK, what used to be a normal part of childhood – playing outside in the local community with friends of all ages - has become an increasingly rare experience.

At the same time there has been an increase in incidence of poor mental health, unhappiness, loneliness and obesity. Although there are many reasons for this, the Marmott review on Fair Society, Healthy Lives and UNICEF have both highlighted the importance of outside spaces to children’s well being and physical health.

Socio-economic inequalities

Children and young people spend 85% of their waking hours away from the school environment. Access to space where children and young people can be outside during this time is unequal. In England one in eight children (one in five children in London) live in a household with no access to a private or shared garden. Teachers have reported that some children go home after school on a Friday and do not go outside again until Monday morning when they return to school.

Natural England’s monitor has found there is a substantial difference in the numbers of children regularly spending time outside between the most affluent and most deprived areas of the country. Children from Black, Asian and other minority ethnic groups were less likely to spend time outdoors than children from White ethnic groups.

Potential causes

There are many societal and cultural reasons why children and young people no longer play or are active outside without adult supervision.

In 2018, the Children’s Commissioner noted that “today’s children are the least active generation ever” and linked this, in part, to time spent online. Others argue that it is the inadequate built environment, prioritising motor vehicles and unwelcoming outside spaces which are pushing children inside and online.

The Raising the Nation Play Commission found that parents are highly aware of safety and social barriers to children playing outside unsupervised. Surveys by Play England have shown these barriers to be: fear of strangers, traffic, other older children’s behaviour and a concern that neighbours will be disturbed. The Commission concluded that it is because parents do not know how to help their children overcome these barriers, they are often reluctant to allow them out unsupervised. This is the case even for parents who played out as children themselves and where they recognise the importance of developing independence.

When children do play outside noise nuisance is the main reason they are asked to stop. Some complaints about children playing outside have resulted in play bans by housing providers and management companies. The Play Commission refer to this as a proliferating anti play culture .

Government responsibility

Previous governments have sought to influence the way children and young people interact with the built environment in a number of ways. Significant pieces of legislation include:

• the Open Spaces Act 1906, gave local authorities the power to acquire and manage land for open spaces where amongst other activities children could play.
• the Street Playgrounds Act 1938, enabled local authorities to close certain “suitable streets at certain suitable times” for use as playgrounds for children, especially those with no nearby playing fields.
• the Highways Act 1980, made it an offence to play ball games on a public road if it is to the annoyance of road users.
• the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, provided powers to local public services relevant to children and young people’s use of outside space: ASB civil injunctions, dispersal powers for individuals aged ten or older and public space protection orders (PSPOs).
• the Equality Act 2010, protects children and young people from discrimination on the basis of other protected characteristics, it does not protect them as a group on the basis of age (except within employment).

Responsiblity for policy relevant to children and young people and the built environment is spread across government.

The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government is responsible for the National Planning Policy Framework and guidance on byelaws for open space. The government’s proposed National Development Management Policies could provide an opportunity for introducing or revising policies which improve outside spaces for children and young people.

The Minister for Children and Families sits within the Department for Education which also funds the holiday activities and food (HAF) programme.

The Minister with responsibility for Youth is in the Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS), which also provides funding for physical activity. Non-departmental public body, Sport England, distributes government and national lottery money for this purpose as does the National Lottery Community Fund which distributes lottery money for play and community groups. In 2008, the DCMS along with the Department for Education produced a Play Strategy, with the aim that children and young people would then have a clear stake in public space; and that their play would be accepted by their neighbours. It provided guidance to those who design and manage neighbourhoods to understand the importance of play and child-friendly spaces as well as funding to maintain or build new play areas.

The Department for Transport is responsible for Active Travel England and the Manual for streets as well as providing guidance on road closures to enable play streets and school streets for local authorities. Other transport-related policies for children and young people include Low Traffic Neighbourhoods and Home Zones, whereby road space is shared between motor vehicles and other road users, but with an emphasis on children and on those who walk and cycle.

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

Planning is a devolved matter. Both the Scottish and Welsh governments have a play sufficiency duty. This is a legislative duty requiring a planning authority to assess the sufficiency of play opportunities for children.

Like England, Northern Ireland does not have a play sufficiency duty but its Department for Education has produced a play and leisure policy with an implementation plan as well as a Play Matters campaign. The Northern Ireland Department for Education’s website has leaflets and guidance to be used to encourage adults to allow children to play outside explaining its importance.

Children and young people friendly initiatives in UK

There are examples of place based initiatives with older housing estates such as the Whittington Estate in North London and newer developments like Marmalade Lane in Cambridge which have been recognised for creating conditions where children and young people have the freedom to move around, meet up and play outside together.

There are also examples from local authorities such as: Leeds City Council which has a play sufficiency action plan including creating safer and more welcoming streets; and Hackney Council which has created Growing up in Hackney, a child friendly places planning document. Both Aberdeen City Council and East Lothian Council have been removing ‘No Ball Games’ signs and replacing them with more positive messaging to children and young people encouraging them to actively use public space.

What are other countries doing?

Organisations such as UNICEF Child Friendly Cities Initiative, Urban95 Academy and 8 to 80 Cities promote child friendly urbanism to city leaders around the world.

Rotterdam and Bratislava both faced ‘family flight’, draining the cities of their inhabitants, so took strategic action. Rotterdam produced a practical roadmap for making urban neighbourhoods a better place for children and Bratislava initiated a child friendly ‘planning revolution’. Bratislava now holds an annual summit entitled Start with Children to encourage city leaders from around the world to come together to learn about the benefits of building better cities for children.

Both Paris and Barcelona have pedestrianised streets to create outside space where children and young can people can socialise and be active. Vienna is building Aspern Seestadt, a new family friendly district based around car free public spaces, housing25,000 people and providing 20,000 jobs.

Other cities have amended laws to encourage healthy childhood activity and community. For example both Bologna and Berlin have exempted the noise of children playing from noise pollution laws. Utah, an American state, has clarified negligence legislation so that parents who allow their children out to play cannot be deemed negligent.

Canadian cities have benefited from central government policy and funding, such as grants for school streets and outdoor play as part of a national implementation programme to promote physical activity and healthy living. In addition, the Canadian Paediatric Society have issued a policy statement on the benefits of independent, outdoors, 'risky' play to healthy child development.