Big Lottery Fund - Childrens Play Projects

Play is well and truly top of Enfield Council’s agenda now that the Big Lottery Fund has awarded the Council £770,000 for 3 fantastic projects.

“Our vision is for an Enfield where every child has access to a wide variety of enjoyable, safe and sustainable play opportunities”

Background
Back in early 2006 the London Borough of Enfield was invited by the Big Lottery Fund (BLF) Children’s Play programme to bid for £770,000 to increase innovative play opportunities for children experiencing disadvantage in Enfield. The funding forms part of a £155 million Children’s Play initiative, which has grown out of recommendations of the 2004 Play Review, and ‘Getting Serious About Play’ initiative carried out under the chairmanship of Frank Dobson MP.

Given this great opportunity Enfield established a multi agency Project Team including representatives from the BLF, Council’s Play Development Team, Parks & Open Spaces, Enfield Children & Young Person's Services, Children and Parents Advisory Group, London Play and Barnardo’s to develop the bid.

The Project Team analysed the boroughs’ Play Strategy and took into consideration the results of comprehensive research and consultation with residents, children, Friends of the Park, Enfield Councillors and the local MP’s.

Following a lot of hard work it was decided the funding would be best spent on 3 projects.

These include:
1. Play Centre Building
2. Adventure Play Environment
3. Pilot Transport Scheme

The details for each of these projects are outlined below.

The emphasis of these 3 projects is to provide free and accessible play opportunities for children and young people experiencing the greatest social need especially those children and young people with disabilities and special needs. It is our aspiration these projects will become a model of best practice, which we hope can be replicated across the borough.

Project 1 - Florence Hayes Play Centre Building
The Council plans to build an innovative play facility for children and young people (2-16years) at the Florence Hayes Recreation Ground. This project aims to bring life back into this largely disused space that was once used for play schemes. It was agreed the funding would have the greatest impact if it were spent at Florence Hayes because it is located within an area that has one of the highest levels of deprivation within the borough.

The park was once used for holiday play schemes, however the service ceased some years ago and since then the site has fallen into disrepair. Consequently very few children and young people use the site as it is unattractive and a health hazard.

The new Play Centre Building will become the focal point for the scheme. We are aiming to use the facility seven days per week, providing out of school and holiday play provision. The site will also be used during the day for other uses such as; local parent & toddler groups, staff training and community events. Children, particularly those with disabilities, from other parts of the borough would also be brought to the site to engage in play activities.

Proposed Florence Hayes Play Centre Drawing - (2.3mb PDF)

It is envisaged this innovative play facility will improve access to quality play provision, enhance the park profile within the local community and providing access to a free, safe, fun and stimulating play opportunities for local children and their families.

Project 2 - Florence Hayes Adventure Play Environment
In addition to the Play Centre Building we are developing an Adventure Play Environment. The will be divided into a series of activity zones which include an adventure play area, hard play area, garden planting area and a woodland free play area.

We are actively encouraging the local children and young people to get involved with the design and building of the play spaces. In due course the Project Team in partnership with specialist play designers will work with the local children to design the outdoor play areas.

Proposed Florence Hayes Adventure Play Drawing - (382kb PDF)

Project Phasing
The Project Team realises we cannot achieve all of our wishes within the available funding and so as a consequence we proposing to split the project into 3 phases.

• Phase 1 - Includes the Play Centre Building, incoming services, hard play area landscaping to the site frontage and first phase of adventure play activity zone.
• Phase 2 – Includes second phase of adventure play activity zone, perimeter path and woodland free play area.
• Phase 3 – Additional Play Centre Building modules.

The Lottery Funding will allow us to complete all of Phase 1. However we will endeavour to complete Phases 2 and 3 as and when additional funding becomes available.

Programme of Works
Subject to the time periods required for planning and tendering, works on Phase 1 should begin in Autumn 08 and be completed by Summer 09.

Project 3 - Inclusion and Accessibility: Enfield Children’s Transport Project
In addition to the Florence Hayes Play Facility we will be undertaking a pilot project to establish a comprehensive transport service specifically designed to meet the play and leisure needs of disabled children and young people, and enable them to access existing services across the borough.

The Audit Commission stated in their report that transport is a key to inclusion, allowing children and families to access other services, social activities, education and employment. They found that many families encountered practical difficulties with transport, including home-to-school transport, private travel in their own vehicles and using public transport. Families in isolated areas of the borough found transport a particular challenge when carrying out day-to-day activities and attending distant locations for services. Children and families living in Enfield supported these findings.

Therefore it is evident that access to transport can open up choices and opportunities for disabled children and their families, so as a consequence we are seeking to increase the availability of transport working in partnership with the existing School Transport Services within Enfield.

Scope of the project:
• Weekend transport services - We will offer term-time (40 weeks) weekend transport services.
• Half-term transport services - We will offer services for the 3 half terms in the year.
• Holiday transport services - We will offer services for 8 weeks per annum to cover Easter and Summer Services.

Contact Us
If you have any further queries please feel free to write to the Project Team at blfplayproject@enfield.gov.uk and we’ll respond to you as soon as possible.

Useful Links
Big Lottery Fund
London Play
Barnardo’s
Children and Parents Advisory Group

This document was last updated on 2008-09-29 13:25:08 published by the Parks team. Document Reference:LBE_132548