Playgrounds don’t often make national headlines. But when Parliament ignores them for 17 years, the neglect shows in every rusted swing, every patch of tarmac where equipment used to be, and every child shut indoors attached to a screen because there’s nowhere safe to play.
That is the reality in Bournemouth East, and across England. In the past decade, we’ve lost 800 playgrounds, and now two million children live more than 10 minutes from a play area. One in eight has no garden, and that figure rises to one in five in London.
In Bournemouth East, only 35% of children live within walking distance of a playground.
The result is predictable: families feel forgotten, children lose the spaces vital for their growth, and whole communities lose the connections these places create.
Last week, eight months after my first debate on playgrounds, I led a debate in Parliament on playgrounds in Bournemouth East. That’s three debates in 17 years. This means that students who took their GCSEs this summer were not even born the last time Parliament seriously considered playground provision. Their entire childhoods have passed by without meaningful attention from the government.
Despite previous MPs’ silence, this matters profoundly. Play is not a frivolous extra; as David Lloyd George put it a century ago, it’s “nature’s training for life.” It builds resilience, confidence, and collaboration. It creates friendships across divides, as parents meet on benches and grandparents converse with strangers. In essence, it’s the glue of community life.
BCP Council knows the importance of play. Last December, it adopted a new Plan for Play strategy, the first significant investment in play spaces across Bournemouth, Christchurch, and Poole since 2010. The team has audited and consulted on 171 play spaces and is planning a phased improvement plan against a new design guide. But their plans inevitably mean playground closures, no new equipment, and frustration from residents who have lost faith in the system.
I’ve seen this firsthand. Year 6 pupils at King’s Park Academy protested when play equipment vanished without warning. Rio organised a demonstration with his neighbours to save the play area at Mallard Road. Parents like Kayleigh, raising three children on a tight budget, told me: “With the cost of living being what it is right now, families are relying more than ever on free local spaces like this one.”
These are not minor concerns. They clearly warn about what happens when the right to play is eroded.
That is why, alongside my debates, I recently launched and now chair the new All-Party Parliamentary Group on Play. Its mission is simple but overdue: to bring together MPs from across the political spectrum with experts, councils, and campaigners to put play back on the national agenda. If we agree that sports deserve national strategies, duties, and investment, then play deserves no less.
Labour has unfinished business here. Seventeen years ago, the last Labour government introduced the first and only national play strategy, backed by £235 million in funding. It would have transformed childhoods. Then the Coalition scrapped it, drawing a thick red line through the budget.
The consequence was predictable and inevitable: closures, decline, and inequity.
Bringing Bournemouth’s playgrounds to Parliament was about bringing the everyday experiences of my constituents to the heart of Government. It was part of my campaign to put play where it belongs: at the heart of national policy.
That means three things. First, a new national play strategy to set clear objectives and restore momentum. Second, a statutory duty for councils to protect and expand play areas, just as is already in place in Scotland and Wales. Third, we need to invest appropriately in play. Play areas need to be treated as essential community infrastructure—like sports fields and libraries—that define whether children thrive.
Playgrounds might not command the duplicate headlines as hospitals or housing. But if politics is to rebuild trust, it must show that it understands everyday lives and grand crises. A playground is never just a climbing frame; it should be a promise: children matter, families are being listened to, and creativity and joy have value in public life.
Breaking Parliament’s Silence on Playgrounds
