Jayne Dowle: For our children's sake, we need fair play

I REMEMBER the precise moment my son became politically aware. On our drive to nursery school, we would pass a children's playground. It was a rundown patch of grass, a few swings, a slide and a peeling climbing frame, surrounded by crowded terraced houses. But for the youngsters who lived nearby, it was their only safe place to play.

One morning, it had disappeared. Jack looked out of the car window and shouted: "The swings have gone." I'd been following the story of this playground, and it seemed that public funding to replace the dilapidated equipment was curtailed at the last minute. I briefly explained what had happened in words that a four-year-old would understand. "Well, that's not fair," Jack announced. "It's not fair on the children."

A few weeks later, local residents campaigned and ended up raising enough funds to pay for a new playground themselves. But the point remained. It wasn't fair on the children, or on the residents, few of whom would have much money to spare for anything, let alone climbing frames and see-saws. Now across the country, there will be thousands like Jack looking out of the window and saying: "It's not fair."

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The Government has slashed the Department of Education budget for playgrounds. Up to 400 projects are in jeopardy. If it comes to the choice between closing a hospital or upgrading a playground, you can see how swings might slide down the priority list. But this is an invidious comparison. Just because playgrounds don't save lives

doesn't mean that they don'timprove lives. To pick on children just because you are bigger and more powerful seems particularly mean to me. I don't know how much money this cost-cutting will save the Government, but I can think of plenty of other things that would save a lot more. Withdrawing from Afghanistan for a start.

And yes, I know, we didn't have fancy playgrounds in our day, we had one football for the whole street and jumpers for goalposts and so on. I know that some people think that modern playgrounds are an indulgence. But think back to your childhood. Was there ever a sadder sight than that lone rusty swing on the rec, blowing backwards and forwards in the rain? If nothing else, a nice playground gives a town or village pride in itself. I know this from my own town, Barnsley.

A new playground has transformed Locke Park, and much work is being done by voluntary groups to improve the rest of the space, with plans to

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re-open the Tower and improve the general environment. If this isn't the "Big Society" in action, I don't know what is. But to work, it needs a partnership between private goodwill and fundraising and committed public money.

A decent playground is an asset to a town. Driving through Northumberland with my family last week, we were so amazed by the many excellent public parks we came across we nicknamed our trip "the parks tour". And the children got so excited, we had to stop at almost every one. Apparently, lots of National Lottery money has been invested in play equipment, planting and refurbishment here, but this, too, looks like a funding source which won't be half as forthcoming in the future.

In Blyth, a town knocked by unemployment, there is a wonderful park with two large, modern playgrounds for different ages. As we drove past, my two children were shouting out of the car-window – "Look at those playgrounds! Pleeeease can we stop?" We ended up there for an hour, and the park was packed with families of all descriptions.

That's another thing. Never underestimate how excited children get when they see a rope bridge. To them it could be the deck of a pirate ship, or a gymnast's apparatus at the Olympic Games. "Going to the park", the staple of so many children's books, is a crucial part of childhood. It frees children from the shackles of everyday life, and the wide open spaces give them room to breathe, physically and mentally.

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For, of course, as well as stimulating their imagination, a playground encourages children to be active. Surely anything which encourages youngsters to climb and run should be a first priority in the battle against obesity? Even if a parent can't afford dancing lessons or football club subs or even a bike, they can take their child to the playground after school and let them run around for an hour, and to them, it costs nothing at all. Some playgrounds even have junior gym equipment now.

For parents, too, a park is a stimulating meeting place, especially for those isolated by lone parenthood or poverty. Many a friendship has been formed over pushing toddlers back and forth on the swings, creating social networks which can heal jagged communities. So I urge the Government to think again about cutting the budget for playgrounds.

I know it will mean yet another embarrassing volte-face. But Ministers should understand that this is where our children learn about what is fair, and what isn't. And children, if my two are anything to go by, have very long memories indeed.