Times of crisis fall hardest on society’s most vulnerable, including children. Bermondsey’s dilapidated playgrounds are symbols of that depressing adage.
The number of children in destitution increased from 400,000 in 2017 to 1 million in 20022, according to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
Meanwhile, kids are facing sky-rocketing measles cases, closing schools, and their education is still suffering a post-pandemic hangover. Compared to these issues, broken swings and rusty slides may seem insignificant. But they’re not. Play is fundamental to children’s development and can have life-long positive effects on their relationships with exercise and health.
In Bermondsey, three playgrounds have been named among London’s ‘saddest’. While Southwark Council does make funding available for public parks, it’s too often distributed on a low, bit-part basis. Even when funding does arrive, as with the Kirby Estate playground, it’s often not enough.
A recent analysis of the collective annual park budget around England – which includes local authority play provision – found that it had fallen by more than £350m, adjusted for inflation, since 2011.
Meanwhile, London Play is suggesting a ‘Play Sufficiency’ duty be imposed on local councils in England, as it already is in Scotland and Wales, to ensure that play provision meets local need. Incentivising councils to invest, while giving them the money to do so, is sorely needed to bring our crumbling play areas back up to standard.
Bermondsey is in fact generously provided with dedicated playground space and equipment compared to Surrey Quays and Rotherhithe. Look at Bryan House, Acorn or Redriff Estate where existing facilities were removed in the 1980s redevelopment. Southwark Council has done nothing despite pumping out huge amounts of extra council tax. Disgraceful. Your article is totally unbalanced.
David Murphy