20. Children’s Play Areas
Children’s Play Areas: Current Supply and Demand
Play is recognised as being essential for children’s healthy growth and development,
and recently installed play areas help to ensure that there are exciting and
stimulating outdoor places to play for all children in Hackney, in every area.
There are a total of 128 children’s play areas in Hackney. These can be divided into
various play space typologies (as defined by Play England) and by geographic area94,
as follows:
Table 20.1 Play space Typologies
Play Planning Planning Planning Planning Planning Planning Total
Type Area A
Area B
Area C
Area D
Area E
Area F
A
12
9
10
8
15
2
56
B
11
6
8
13
17
5
60
C
2
1
2
1
3
3
12
Hackney Learning Trust, who run education services for Hackney, currently plans its
provision using the six areas identified as A to F as identified in the map below.95
Whilst these planning areas may be more reflective of community and/or geography
they do not necessarily overlap with ward level information on demographics.
Figure 20.1 Hackney’s six children’s centre clusters
94
95
Childcare Sufficiency Assessment 2011, The Learning trust
Hackney Childcare Provision Assessment 2014-15, The Learning Trust
HACKNEY INFRASTRUCTURE ASSESSMENT UPDATE – JULY 2016
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Table 20.2: Play England classify play space typologies as follows:
Type
Description
Type A - Doorstep spaces
and facilities for play and
informal recreation.
 Grassed areas, open space, residential street in
Type B – Local spaces and
facilities for play and
informal recreation.
 Grassed area, small park, local open space,
Home Zone, small designated play area.
 Could incorporate some interesting and attractive
landscape features and /or small items of equipment.
A small space within sight of  Sufficiently close to home so children feel
home, where children,
comfortable.
especially young children
 Seating may be available for carers.
can play within view of
known adults.
A larger space which can be
reached safely by children

beginning to travel
independently and with
friends, without
accompanying adults and for
adults with young children

to walk to with ease.


Type C – Neighbourhood
spaces and facilities for play
and informal recreation.
 Park, playing field, recreation ground or natural open

A larger space or facility for
informal recreation which
children and young people,

who are used to travelling
longer distances

independently, can get to
safely, spend time in play

and informal recreation with
their peers and have a wider
range of play experiences.

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designated space for play/informal recreation or
school playground open outside of school hours –
attractive to children as they move around their
neighbourhood without adult supervision.
Varied and interesting physical environments,
including for example natural features, sand and
water and incorporate landscape features with
varying levels and contours, which test children’s
capabilities.
Specific features, such as ball games provision,
wheeled sports areas and/or several items of
equipment for play.
Local staffed provision, such as play centres,
playschemes, play ranger projects and adventure
playgrounds.
Users should feel safe and be able to interact with
children of different ages.
space such as woodland that is accessible and
attractive to older children and young people.
The space or facility provides for a variety of age
appropriate play and informal recreational
experiences.
There may be varied interesting and attractive
landscape features with varying levels and contours.
Likely to be more challenging equipment for older
children and young people.
Larger facilities specifically designed for informal
recreation, such as a ball court, MUGA or skateboard
area catering for young people with different skills
levels.
Likely to be sufficient space for large group ball
games and seating/shelter to enable young people to
socialise.
HACKNEY INFRASTRUCTURE ASSESSMENT UPDATE - JULY 2016
Figure 20.2
Locations of Play Pathfinder sites
In recent years there has been substantial investment through the Play Pathfinder
Scheme to upgrade adventure playgrounds and play spaces across the Borough. The
Play Pathfinder scheme contributed an average of £50,000 to each Pathfinder site
and was match-funded by other funding sources at some sites. Match funding came
from planning contributions and funding from the Leisure and Green Spaces service.
The scheme made a significant contribution to tackling child play space deficiencies
and the quality of play space. All the Pathfinder play areas feature natural elements
such as tree trunks, boulders and sand, as well as more traditional swings, slides
and climbing elements. They were planned in consultation with children and are
designed to encourage active play and inspire children’s imaginations.
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Play England uses the following standards to evaluate local play provision, as
provided in the table below. 96
Table 20.3: Distance thresholds for catchment areas97
Distance criteria
Walking (m)
Straight line (m)
Type of space
Type A – Doorstep
100
60
Type B – Local
400
240
Type C – Neighbourhood
1000
600
The maps below show the location of play areas and their catchments alongside
areas of play deficiency. In general, the distributions of play areas are well covered
in the Borough, except north and north east and south of the Borough.
Figure 20.3: Play areas and catchments, and areas of play deficiency98
Policy 7.18 in the London Plan (2015) sets standards for play areas as follows: district parks (with children’s play
for different age groups) should be within 1.2 kilometres from homes; and, local parks and open spaces with children’s
play areas should be within 400 metres of homes.
97 Tools for evaluating local play provision: A technical guide to Play England local play indicators, Play England,
October 2009
98 Children’s Play: Draft Play Indicators Report, The Learning Trust and Renaisi, 2011.
96
150
HACKNEY INFRASTRUCTURE ASSESSMENT UPDATE - JULY 2016
Future Supply and Demand
Assessment of children’s play area provision is done on the basis of the distance that
parents have to travel to each site (instead of the total amount of play space per
head of population). Whilst population increase is likely to put pressure on existing
provision of play facilities, this will only be the case if the facilities are already at full
capacity. Currently there is no assessment of play facility capacity so it is not
possible to consider whether projected population increase in the Borough will lead
to demand for play facilities outstripping supply.
For the areas already deficient in provision (as shown in the Figure 20.3 above)
there will need to be a consideration of how any development containing family
housing can contribute to addressing existing deficiencies of play space. This is key
in areas of population growth such as Dalston, De Beauvoir, Brownswood, New River
and potentially Hackney Wick.
Conclusion
The Borough’s provision of play areas has significantly benefited from recent
investment through the Play Pathfinders programme. However, some deficiencies
remain and in the current economic climate it is unlikely that there will be a similar
source of funding in the short to medium term.
It is possible that children’s play areas could be provided as part of future
developments. The costs of play finder projects ranged from £44k to £125k,
depending on whether they were refurbishment or rebuild projects. The average
project budget was around £75,000. It is recommended that provision is reviewed
as plans for development come forward.
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