Playtime in the Peak
A Play Strategy for High Peak Borough Council 2007-2012
Contents:
Appendices
Executive Summary
Welcome to our strategy for Play and encouraging young peoples activity in the High Peak. We have agreed the following Vision for play in the Borough.
"High Peak will be a child friendly place where all children and young people have access to play opportunities within their local communities, which offer variety, adventure and stimulus. They will be able to play freely and safely and make choices about where, how and when they play.”
We have worked within the following six core values that determine our approach to play provision:
- Play is an activity that has a value in its own right. It is about the fun and satisfaction of the participant and benefits children, young people, families and communities.
- Every child and young person in High Peak should be able to access play opportunities, play activities, play facilities relevant to their needs and play aspirations.
- Children and young people in High Peak have the right to secure safe, hazard free play environments and to lead active, healthy lives.
- Children and young people should be involved in the design of the environment in which they play.
- The views, opinions and experiences of children and young people should be taken into account in the development of policies and strategies and the decision making processes which impact upon their lives.
- The role of early years provision for play in child development is recognised within the strategy.
We have used these values to establish the following nine key objectives for delivering play provision in the borough. We will:
- ensure and improve play space and play provision in terms of quality, quantity, accessibility and safety;
- ensure that play space and play provision is inclusive and meets the needs of all local children and young people;
- promote greater social inclusion;
- develop a balance between supervised and unsupervised provision according to local need;
- ensure that play spaces enhance the quality of the local environment for children and young people;
- improve the public realm as a child-friendly environment and make best use of the public realm and natural environment;
- provide a clear framework for investment priorities, action and workforce development;
- make clear links to other relevant strategies and plans in the borough; and
- make the best use of natural environment and public realm.
We have consulted with young people and Agencies across the Borough on these objectives and our Action Plan that sets out our proposals for taking the Strategy forward. We wish to ensure that play is embedded into the community, in recognition of its benefits for health and well being.
The strategy cuts across a wide range of council and partner activities and requires partnership working to enable the Action Plan to be fulfilled. It covers a five year period and will be driven by the Play Partnership that is being established through the High Peak and North Derbyshire Children and Young Peoples Partnership.
The Action Plan identifies specific priorities under each objective for the first two years of the strategy. The plan will be updated annually and monitored through our performance management process.
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Councillor Andrew Bingham,
Executive Member |
