A week of fun takes place across the city next week organised by Nottingham City Council and its partners.

As hundreds of youngsters converge on parks, adventure playgrounds, sports fields and play centres, the half term enjoyment also marks a landmark in the serious business of providing Play in Nottingham to bring wide-ranging benefits to communities, as children and young people get new opportunities to make the most of their free time.

Nottingham’s Play Strategy looks at how children and young people, from toddlers through to late teens can get the best play and leisure facilities and opportunities.

Among the ground-breaking ideas outlined in the plan are:

• Setting up local ‘Playmaker’ networks to support grass roots play development and delivery
• Putting park rangers or play rangers who are skilled in and training in ‘playwork’ in parks, playgrounds and on the streets
• Opening up school grounds outside school hours
• Establishing a team of skilled playground fitters, play area and park maintenance staff
• Developing local Youth Banks so the Young People can set up and pay for their own activities

Nottingham aims to play a leading role in national policy-making for play with specific national developments, conferences on play and supporting a regional play network. The strategy also looks at how volunteering opportunities and training can be improved and how play training can be put in place for parents and carers to improve their relationships with their children.

Councillor David Mellen, Portfolio holder for Children’s Services at Nottingham City Council, said: “Play gives children the opportunity to freely express themselves. It is important for child development, learning and health, for tackling obesity, improving children’s emotional resilience and mental health or tackling difficult and challenging behaviour by providing positive activities.

“Nottingham has always offered accessible, innovative and creative experiences for children and young people because we recognise that they want to roam, to explore and to be free to create their own opportunities within their local neighbourhoods. We want all Nottingham’s children and young people to know about and then choose to make use of excellent and appropriate leisure and play opportunities available for them in the city.

“Leaflets with the feedback from the our play consultation and what the Council and its Play partners are going to do as a result will be distributed at the various activities across the city this week so that residents can see our commitment.”

Key to the strategy is providing play opportunities that let Nottingham’s children and teenagers:

• Build social skills, creativity, flexibility and imagination that also helps them learn at school and helps reduce challenging or difficult behaviour
• ‘Hang out’ together in a way that doesn’t appear threatening to others
• Make the most of the city’s green spaces to compensate for less natural environment and parental fears about traffic
• Increase their cross-culture understanding

Nottingham Play Strategy has been put together by everyone involved with children and young people across the City and follows 15 months of widespread discussions with young people themselves, including Nottingham Youth Council, parents and carers, schools, and those who work with children and teenagers, both at Nottingham City Council and through Children’s Centres, play centres, play groups and nurseries, Connexions and voluntary organisations.

The strategy builds on the wide-ranging work that already takes place in the city, including clubs and activities in extended schools. It aims to improve support for parents and carers, to make sure the City’s open and green spaces meets the needs of young residents and provides opportunities for vulnerable groups of young people such as those in care, black and minority ethnic young people, disabled young people as well as those who cope with domestic violence or homelessness.

During the consultation, children and young people said they wanted to play near their homes, they wanted clean parks and better quality play areas. They said they did not always feel safe where they play and hang out unsupervised, and parents were also concerned about safety.

The strategy sets the framework for co-ordinated objectives and programmes for the City Council and all other organisations providing play and leisure activities for young people, building on extended schools and transformation of neighbourhoods.