Once it's gone, it's gone
London Play is contributing to the campaign to save Battersea Park Adventure Playground, which Wandsworth Council is proposing to remove and replace with boring, static play equipment which does away with both any play value and the need for staff.
In a statement the council said that: "Installing the safest available commercially produced apparatus would mean the popular leisure facility no longer required staff to be on duty to supervise activities."
London Play is working with local people and activists to demand that the adventure playground is preserved for the children of Wandsworth today and for future generations.
‘Today, just 1 in 5 children regularly play outside in their neighbourhood. The rest are denied the chance to get out of the house and have the everyday adventures that - to people of my generation - are what childhood is all about.' (Prime Minister, David Cameron)
In praise of adventure play
There are playgrounds and there are Adventure Playgrounds. An ordinary, manufactured playground is an inflexible play space.
‘A manufactured playground is unchangeable, rigid, (often metal) and has no imprint of the child ever being there. The space only gets older, and is never revitalised with love from the child, staff or local population' (Grant Lambie, Adventure Playground constructor)
Adventure playgrounds are popular with children because they have a sense of pride and ownership in a space where anything is possible. There are playworkers on site with a special set of skills that combine elements of teacher/social worker and mentor.
‘An adventure playground is a play area staffed by skilled playworkers where children are encouraged to play in ways not often possible elsewhere, for example digging or using tools to build dens' (Mick Conway, Play England)
It is a place where children and playworkers collaborate to continually create and adapt challenging and exciting play structures. It is a place that children feel belongs to them and where anything is possible.
‘Adventure playgrounds are at the forefront of play services for children - services that help children's health and well-being, services that help children find out for themselves how the world works' (Perry Else, Senior Playwork Lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University)
Battersea Park Adventure Playground has been a place of wonder and fun to local children for 40 years. Children living in the Doddington and Rollo estate, with no gardens of their own to play in, visit the Adventure Playground to be active in a safe, welcoming play space.
‘There can be no denying the need for adventure playgrounds in our urban areas because we have allowed public space for children to become less and less safe'. (Dr. Mayer Hillman, Senior Fellow Emeritus Policy Studies Institute)
We cannot afford to watch this essential children's service and the dedicated staff that bring it alive vanish from Battersea Park. Once it's gone, it's gone.
Some hard facts about Battersea and Wandsworth
Below are some hard facts that we hope you will use to lobby councillors and senior officers to think hard about their plans.
- Wandsworth currently has three adventure playgrounds but under the council's direction in a matter of years that number will be cut to zero.
- The three adventure playgrounds in Wandsworth currently cost each resident £2.50 a year. Without staff to look after the playground, the vandalism and arson manufactured playground experience will end up cost council tax payers a lot more.
- Wandsworth council plans to spend £200,000 on a manufactured playground. That sort of investment will not stretch far and will barely buy one major structure. The result will be a barren space, sparsely populated with uninviting structures.
- The council's planned playground will be more of the same. The adventure playground already is located next to a large manufactured playground.
- In coming to its decision the council did not consult with London Play, Play England or any other significant experts in play and child development.
- The council has made no attempt to explore alternative ways of running the adventure playground. Many adventure playgrounds have come up with innovative ways of raising/saving revenue including removing unnecessary back office staff, recruiting vetted volunteers onto the playgrounds and setting up a charity organisation to take on the running of the adventure playground.
- From September there will be no playworkers. No one to keep the children safe, reunite lost children with their parents, apply health and safety measures, put plasters on grazed knees, deal with bullying, provide a glass of water on hot days. Staff provide consistent positive role models and keep at bay negative influences.
- The consultation process carried out was not based on facts and presented limited choices. The entire process was a cynical exercise by the council to skew results in their favour. For example children consulted were not told staff would be removed from the future playground.
- Wandsworth have used Camden as a comparative example- stating that Camden has closed six adventure playgrounds. In fact Camden council has only closed one adventure playground and has set aside £1.5m to support a new play service to start in August.
London Play is leading on the campaign to save Battersea Park Adventure Playground. Please use the information above or download the ready-made letter below, and send a message to your local Wandsworth councillor and MP demanding the adventure playground be preserved for the children of Wandsworth today and for future generations. Approaches to the media are also encouraged.
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