NEWCASTLE City Council’s Cabinet will consider ambitious plans to transform play spaces across the city with investment in the region of £2 million.

The Play Space Plan covers all publicly accessible outdoor playable spaces across the city for children up to the age of 19 and includes over 160 outdoor spaces in total.

Play spaces cover a wide range of uses, from traditional play grounds, to green spaces, multi-use games areas and more specific sports courts for tennis and basketball. 51 of the 160 spaces sit in the city’s parks, with the remaining areas dotted around communities, streets and residential areas.

The Council focus on developing accessible, high quality facilities which will help support healthy neighbourhoods. Investment will be accurately co-ordinated and placed in the areas where residents will benefit the most.

Investment in the parks will be based on local information and intelligence, which will look at things such as childhood obesity, how close it is to other play areas and the population of the ward. This approach will make sure that investment will happen in areas that will have the most positive impact on the local people and play a key role in creating a healthy neighbourhood.

The rolling programme of improvement and investment is expected to take around three years and all play spaces across the city will receive some level of investment during this time. 

The Community Infrastructure Levy will also provide funding and support towards the development of green areas and children’s play spaces.

Councillor Kim McGuinness, cabinet member for Culture, Sport and Public Health said;

“I am thrilled to announce this huge amount of investment and improvement in play spaces across the City.

“Providing high quality, adaptable play spaces that allow children and young people to socialise, be active and creative will help improve their physical health and mental wellbeing.

“I am really pleased that we can create vibrant, modern play spaces that will have benefit for children, young people and families in their communities.”

Work has already started on sites already and three more have already been given the green light to start their improvement works, designs for the next five sites in the process are already being considered.

Further details outlining the proposal, including the specific budget, will be presented to cabinet in January 2019.

Ends.