Comment

HANDS ON: Youngsters get stuck into the goo at Hogland's Park Outdoor play day. Echo pictures by Chris Moorhouse. Order no: 7086346

A new report has found that more and more children in Southampton are getting the chance to enjoy playing outside but many parents still have their doubts about using the city parks. Sian Davies reports.


MORE children than ever are playing outdoors in Southampton, new research has found.

The Play Survey carried out by Southampton City Council found that 74 per cent of youngsters aged from five to 13 regularly played outside.

The figure is up from 51 per cent that was recorded the last time a similar survey was conducted in 2005.

As previously reported in Mum About Town, the Outdoor Play survey was carried out in a bid to get a feel for the sort of play areas parents and children wanted to see around the city, whether they used the ones that were already available, and if not why not.

The research was commissioned after the city won a £1m cash windfall from the Government to invest in play areas across Southampton.

Play services manager Sean Holehouse said: "This was only a snapshot of play in the city but it gave us a real indication of what parents and children liked to use for play and the reasons for not using the facilities already available.

"We have a rolling programme of investment over the next three years to significantly improve up to 25 local play areas. This research will really help us to address parental concerns about safety, and develop places that children and families really value as places to play."

In all, 520 parents were questioned as part of the research that found that the number of children playing outside had gone up. However, the survey did reveal that parents did not rate the existing facilities very highly.

Although 79 per cent of parents said they had a park within ten to 15 minutes of them, around half of parents rated them less than five out of ten.

Thirty seven per cent said they hardly ever used them while 29 per cent said they used parks occasionally.

"The research probably confirmed what we already suspected in terms of some of our play facilities are looking a bit tired and in need of investment.

"It was a good way of getting an idea of the level of quality parents felt which the survey found at best can only be described as average."

The study also asked parents what the barriers were to allowing their children to play outside.

The top two reasons for parents not allowing their children to play outside on their own was the fear of older teenagers hanging around and also the worry of stranger danger.

Mr Holehouse said: "We could have some of the best play areas but the real challenge will be parents allowing their children to go there. There is no doubt that the youngster's freedom to roam is limited."

The top parents suggestions for improvements that could be made was separate outdoor facilities for older children while 57 per cent said the introduction of CCTV would help them feel safer.

Mr Holehouse said: "It simply isn't feasible to put up mass CCTV coverage across all play areas, but park attendants is something we are looking into. While this lump sum of money can't pay for things like wardens as that is an ongoing cost we are looking at the possibility of developing the role of neighbourhood wardens and encouraging friends of park' schemes so that there is a some sort of adult around."

Children were also questioned as part of the survey. Two hundred and eighty youngsters aged five to 13 were asked basic questions about where they play and why. Of them 74 per cent said they play outside every day while four per cent said they never played outside. The top three places they played were the park, their garden and the playground.

When asked why they were not allowed to play in certain places the top answers were that older children might be there and that the play facility was too far away.

Alongside the survey a lot of work has also been carried out on where the money should be spent. Currently 28 play areas have been shortlisted but with a last phase of consultation the final 25 areas will be announced within the next few months.

Mr Holehouse confirmed that the first neighbourhood that will be benefitting from the cash would be Thornhill as a lot of work had already been done to invest in play areas there before the government money was announced.

Work should start on those play areas at the beginning of next year.

11:24am Tuesday 5th August 2008

Print

Email this

Comment

Add your comment

Name:
Email: *
Location:
**
	e.g. 123-123
Comment: Please note: All HTML tags will be ignored. Format Text:
By posting a comment, I confirm that I have read and agree to the terms of use. Comments are not moderated but we will react if anything that breaks the rules comes to our attention and we may delete inappropriate postings. Please treat other people with respect. You must not post anything that is abusive, indecent, unlawful or defamatory. Remember, you are personally liable for what you post on this site. If you wish to complain about a comment, contact us here.
* Your email address will not be displayed ** To avoid register now or login