Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council
Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council is located
at the geographic centre of England, in the West Midlands. The
council hosted a Professional Development seminar in October
2009.
The chief executive of the council, who had previously been the
head of children services and had a passionate interest in
providing better play opportunities for children and young people,
opened the event.
A range of action points and priorities emerged for continuing
to improve play across the area:
- widening the reach of the local play partnership to include
representatives from the planning department and social housing
providers
- cascading information about sensible risk management to other
partners and strategic plans
- producing a set of good practice examples on balanced
approaches to risk management
- including more consideration for play in the new Transport
Plan, and consulting residents on routes to play areas
- encouraging extended schools to use the principles of Design
for Play and to offer access to school-based play areas in the
evening and weekends
- passing on information on the importance of play to community
police officers and the anti-social behaviour team
- looking at budget pooling to increase the amount of money
available for commissioning and refurbishing play areas
- reviewing the role of play when refreshing the local Nature
Conservation Strategy, Woodland Strategy and Countryside
Strategy
- offering a half-day workshop to local councillors with Play
England on key issues including risk / benefit assessment and good
design, and following up with appropriate events to ensure
continued support.
For further information contact Emma Sibbing at Solihull
Metropolitan Borough Council emsibbing@solihull.gov.uk
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