Our vision for the future of play across BCP is: “To provide high quality, accessible, safe and inclusive play spaces, where everyone of all abilities, across Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, can learn, have fun and be active through play. All ages and abilities should feel safe, confident and excited to use our play spaces as part of leading fulfilled lives with brighter futures.”

The wider aims for Plan for Play are:

1. Improve the public realm as a child-friendly environment which offers stimulating and challenging play opportunities suitable for everyone.
2. Ensure our play spaces are clean, safe and non-threatening
3. Work with partners to identify opportunities for improving places for children and young people to play
4. Encourage local people to use our play spaces to benefit their health and well-being.
5. Work to reduce the barriers that prevent children from accessing and playing in the general public domain.
6. Encourage children and young people to encounter the natural environment
7. Deliver excellent value and high performance while keeping residents at the heart of what we do.

The primary source of funding for Plan for Play is the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL). CIL is a charge that local authorities can set on new development in order to raise funds to help deliver infrastructure in the area. The Plan for Play project has secured £3.9 million from BCP CIL for Phase 1. Collaboration for additional funding for this phase is being sought and secured with community groups, neighbourhood forums, partner organisations, and charities (such as The Parks Foundation).

More information on this can be found in the Strategy document Plan for Play BCP Play and Wheeled Activity Strategy (pdf).

We last received central government funding for play in 2009/2010 through a programme called Playbuilder. The average life expectancy for play spaces is 10 to 15 years, which means many of our play spaces are now reaching end of life and have play equipment which is worn, broken or is no longer fit for purpose.

There has been a spending freeze on all non-statutory services since 1 April 2024; play spaces are not a statutory requirement of a Council and consequently there has been no budget to maintain any of the BCP play spaces for some time. If a piece of equipment is broken or in need of replacement it has to be removed or closed unless funds can be found for repair or replacement.

Christchurch play spaces received a £1.2 million improvement budget in 2018/19 prior to local government review which funded a number of play space improvements, refurbishments and replacements.

All BCP play spaces receive regular visual and operational inspections from our in-house inspection team. They also receive a further annual inspection from a third party play inspection company.

If you notice a fault or vandalism at a play space please use the ‘Report it’ link on the BCP council website – Report a problem with a playground, skatepark or paddling pool | BCP.

Play Inspection reports are not published. Any concerns over the life expectancy of a piece of equipment or vandalism can be reported directly via the ‘Report it’ link on the BCP council website – Report a problem with a playground, skatepark or paddling pool | BCP 

Our play equipment has been designed to British and European Standards for playground equipment and surfacing. All measures have been taken to extend the life of our play equipment, but it is recognised that the lifespan of in-ground timbers can be limited.

The materials used in any refurbishment/replacement in a play space will be selected to ensure that they are appropriate to the kind of play space and respond to the character of its setting (e.g. urban versus countryside). Some equipment will be timber however it must comply with relevant British Standards and the use of softwood will not be permitted. High quality Robinia, hardwoods, and engineered timbers will be used in spaces where wood is the preferred material. With the exception of Robinia, timber play equipment will not be installed straight into the ground but will use steel sockets or feet to protect it from moisture.

BCP Council will be working with a number of suppliers. Companies have taken part in a competitive process and the project team used both quality and price criteria to determine who would be chosen. The selected suppliers will take part in design competitions to decide who will be awarded specific play spaces to work on.

When a supplier completes a new play space installation it will be inspected by a third party to ensure it meets all the relevant British play standards.

Repurposing means a play space will be adapted for another use, for example returning it to greenspace, adding benches, or putting in ground markings for scooter/bike trails.

Where feasible no play space will be repurposed until its closest neighbour has been refurbished/replaced to ensure that play provision is maintained throughout the project.

Careful consideration and a robust evidence base have been used when exploring possible play space repurposing. Measures that have fed into prioritisation include the proximity to other facilities and their quality, walking time, the amount of space and location to create high quality future play spaces, the type of equipment in current locations, the age profile and number of children in the ward, spaces of deprivation and walk times to remaining facilities.

All play spaces recommended for repurposing will be considered on an individual basis. Sites will remain allocated as open space and future use will be considered. Opportunities for new uses, such as informal recreation, natural play or improvements to biodiversity will be brought forward. In only a very few cases will play spaces be considered for asset disposal or alternative use, such as housing, with any income sought for re-investment into nearby play facilities.

A consultation was held over the summer to understand what the play spaces recommended for repurposing could be used for. Small individual budgets have been secured to remove equipment and then make small scale changes, such as white lining for scooter trails, benches or planting. None of the recommended sites have had any detailed work on them yet to consider the best use or impact, this is still to be completed.

The Plan for Play Improvement Plan includes details of play spaces and the recommendation for either replacement, refurbishment, defect repair or repurpose – that document is available at:

Plan for Play Improvement Plan v2 2026.pdf | BCP Projects

The original Improvement Plan was reviewed following responses from the Plan for Play consultation which ended on 24 August 2025. 

There are 171 play spaces across the BCP area with only £150,000 in total each year to spend on repair, management and replacement of equipment. Capital funds are also limited so we cannot continue to invest in so many sites when we do not have the funds to maintain them.

Value for the tax payer will be created by improving the remaining, larger sites so they have more equipment that is suitable for a wider range of ages and abilities. Many of the sites for repurposing are very poor in quality and play value.

A four week consultation period was held in summer 2025 to capture residents’ views, including online surveys and 12 in-person events at play spaces across the area. The online consultation closed at midnight on 24 August 2025.

We are continuing to consult on play spaces with residents, stakeholders and ward councillors on the detail of the proposals in order to discuss and understand the merits of individual play spaces. Decisions will then be made on what and where are the most important play spaces, but we will have to reduce the overall total (from 171) and close some sites for repurposing. Our proposals in the original Improvement Plan were just that; changes were made to the final list following consultation, and a revised Improvement Plan was published in January 2026 – all strategy documentation.

BCP landscape architects are writing design briefs for each play space, using relevant information from the community consultations and other background information.

A design competition will then be run with the chosen suppliers, who will create designs bespoke to each space. The results will be evaluated (some sites will include additional community engagement) and contracts issued per site.

The design competition and issuing of contracts stage of the project is likely to take a minimum of two months and lead times for supply of play equipment are typically 8-10 weeks. Due to the difficulties of installing play equipment in excessively hard or waterlogged ground over the winter, we would hope to have the first sites come forward for improvement in the early spring 2026.

Where feasible no play space will be repurposed until its closest neighbour has been refurbished/replaced to ensure that play provision is maintained throughout the project.

Plan for Play is a large project and has been broken down into phases over a multi-year period. The Plan for Play strategy has identified the priorities and the most urgent work is in Phase 1 (2025-2027). TBC (to be confirmed) means that a play space has been scheduled for work in a later phase.

A robust evidence base has been used to create an assessment of current provision. Key elements of this evidence include:

• Public consultation data
• Amalgamation of data on play spaces from the three legacy authorities (Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole)
• Annual independent safety inspection data and reports on life expectancy
• Full site inspection review of all 171 play spaces
• 171 site audits undertaken by officers across Greenspaces, Grounds Maintenance and Recreation teams to review design & usability, play value, safety, community links and inclusivity
• Spatial data review to understand play provision per ward and the needs of different spaces
• Key demographics and metrics including play space location and size, age ranges of children, deprivation indices, play equipment life expectancy and walk times to green spaces

All the key elements of the evidence base informed a ranking and fed into the prioritisation of works; any play spaces scheduled as TBC were not supported by the evidence to be prioritised as Phase 1.

Further phasing is yet to be agreed if and when Phase 2 funding is allocated.

We will continue to work with communities exploring other funding opportunities.

Please contact us for more information and to get involved by emailing greenspaces@bcpcouncil.gov.uk.

In your email please advise if your query is regarding a general update on the Plan for Play project or for a specific play space.

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