Guidance

Playground Fund: supplementary guidance on best practice

Published 18 June 2026

Applies to England

This supplementary guidance is designed to provide additional practical resource for local authorities.

Engagement with children, families and communities

Each community will have different needs, barriers and priorities. We encourage local authorities to undertake proportionate and meaningful engagement with children, young people, families, local residents and relevant local stakeholders to inform site selection, design and delivery. We would like engagement to take place as early as possible, not only after sites or designs have already been selected.

Engagement should seek to understand how children and families currently use local playgrounds, what prevents them from using them, what types of play opportunities are missing, and how playgrounds could be made more accessible, inclusive, welcoming and sustainable. Authorities may also wish to consider the views of children with different ages, abilities and experiences, including disabled children and their families, girls, teenagers and children from communities with poorer access to play provision.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) is not prescribing what a project should look like. Local authorities should use local evidence, engagement and professional judgement to determine the most appropriate playground projects for their area, within the scope and requirements of this fund. Projects may also support wider local policy priorities, including health and wellbeing, community safety, parks and open spaces, planning, inclusion and neighbourhood renewal.

Sites must be free to access and may be on local authority-owned land or other land where appropriate permissions, lease arrangements, access rights, maintenance responsibilities and long-term public access can be secured. This may include land owned by community, voluntary or faith organisations. There is no prescribed minimum or maximum playground size, but proposals should demonstrate that the scale of investment is appropriate to the site, local need and intended impact.

Playground design principles

This programme encourages playground projects to reflect the principles of good design set out in the National Design Guide (planning practice guidance for enduring and successful places, January 2021). The guide is designed to support the planning system and sets out ten characteristics of well-designed places; the characteristics most relevant to playgrounds include Inclusive use, Nature, Public spaces, Movement, Resources, Context and Identity, and Lifespan.

The National Design Guide is intended to support good-quality sustainable projects and does not constitute a specification or contractual requirements for the rollout of this funding. National and sector design guidance should be used to support good-quality decision-making. It does not replace the need for appropriate professional advice, local authority governance, procurement requirements, site-specific assessment, inspection and compliance with relevant standards.

We encourage funded projects to consider accessibility and inclusion from the start. Accessibility means children and caregivers can get to, enter, move around and use the playground. Inclusion means all children can take part, feel welcome and play together. Local authorities should consider how projects funded through this programme align with local plans, open space strategies, play strategies, parks and green infrastructure strategies and relevant planning obligations. Where playgrounds are being created, improved or enhanced, authorities should ensure that the investment supports long-term local planning for children’s play, rather than being treated as a one-off equipment project.

Good playground design responds to local context and needs. We would encourage authorities to consider how children and families reach the playground, move through it, use it, and spend time there. We would also encourage authorities to consider how the playground connects with nearby homes, schools, parks, streets, active travel routes, community facilities and green infrastructure.

Projects should aim to provide good play value, not simply new equipment. This means considering a broad range of play opportunities, including physical, social, imaginative, creative, sensory, quieter and nature-based play. Designs should support different ages, abilities and ways of playing, and should avoid separating or stigmatising children.

Authorities may also wish to consider sector guidance on play space design, including Play England’s Design for Play, alongside relevant local policies, technical standards and professional advice.

Playground design, improvement, inspection and management should take a risk-benefit approach. Authorities should manage hazards responsibly while recognising that challenge, uncertainty and manageable risk are part of good play. Funded schemes should not default to over-standardised, low-challenge designs simply to reduce perceived risk.

MHCLG may publish or signpost case studies showing how local authorities and partners have delivered high-quality, accessible and inclusive playgrounds. These may be used to support learning but will not replace the programme requirements set out in this guidance.

Project preparation, inspection and maintenance

This fund may be used to support proportionate project preparation and delivery activity. This may include site surveys, feasibility work, design advice, community engagement, specialist advice on accessibility and inclusion, training, monitoring and evaluation, opening events and other eligible activity that supports delivery of the funded playground projects.

We encourage local authorities to set out how each playground will be maintained and managed after completion. This should include routine inspection, operational inspection, annual independent inspection where appropriate, repair arrangements, surfacing maintenance, warranties, replacement planning, and clear responsibility for ongoing management.

Authorities should consider whether staff, contractors or partners involved in playground inspection, maintenance or management require relevant training. Training may include routine visual inspection, operational inspection, post-installation inspection, maintenance, risk-benefit assessment, and legal duties relating to playground management.

Environmental considerations

The funding is provided via a Section 31 grant and is not intended to create new statutory duties or to mandate a single approach to environmental management. However, we encourage authorities to consider environmental impacts as part of project design and delivery, in line with local responsibilities and any relevant local environmental requirements.

Local authorities should consider:

• waste minimisation, where appropriate (for example: repair/refurbish where safe; reuse/recycle components; and minimise waste sent to landfill)
• nature-positive design where feasible (for example: planting, natural play features, and sensitivity to habitats/trees and biodiversity constraints and opportunities)
• climate resilience in design and materials (for example: shade, drainage, surface water management and heat mitigation)
• applying the Environmental Principles Duty proportionately (including prevention, rectification at source, polluter pays and precautionary approaches) and follow relevant standards and local environmental requirements

We will include a small number of proportionate environmental prompts in monitoring returns (for example: waste handling approach; material choices; and any biodiversity constraints/opportunities identified).

Inclusivity for women and girls

Local authorities should consider whether proposed playgrounds meet the needs of girls, teenage girls, women carers and other users who may feel excluded from public space. Evidence suggests that girls and women can face particular barriers to using parks, playgrounds and public spaces, including poor visibility, lack of seating, limited social space, perceptions of safety, and facilities that prioritise boys’ patterns of use. Authorities may wish to consider Make Space for Girls guidance and other relevant evidence when designing or improving playgrounds.

Well-designed playgrounds should consider visibility, openness, clear sightlines, appropriate lighting where relevant, nearby activity, seating, social space and connections to the wider park or public realm. They should provide a range of play and informal social opportunities, rather than only equipment designed for younger children or highly active play. Integrating playgrounds into wider public spaces, rather than locating them in hidden or isolated areas, can support safer, more welcoming and more inclusive use.

Safety

Local authorities are responsible for ensuring that funded playgrounds are designed, installed, inspected and maintained safely and competently.

Playground equipment installed in public spaces should comply with relevant standards, including BS EN 1176 for playground equipment and surfacing. Authorities should also ensure that installation, surfacing, inspection and maintenance arrangements are appropriate to the site and equipment provided.

BS EN 1176 covers:

• equipment design and construction
• fall heights and impact areas
• entrapment and entanglement risks
• spacing between equipment
• installation requirements

Authorities should also use a risk-benefit approach when designing, improving, inspecting and managing playgrounds. This means managing hazards responsibly while recognising that challenge, uncertainty and manageable risk are part of good play. Funded schemes should not default to over-standardised, low-challenge designs simply to reduce perceived risk.

Authorities may wish to refer to BS ISO 4980, which provides a framework for benefit-risk assessment in sports and recreational facilities, including playgrounds. This can help authorities consider the developmental, social and wellbeing benefits of play alongside the need to manage unacceptable hazards.

Authorities should ensure that appropriate inspections are carried out before and after opening, including post-installation inspection where relevant, and that ongoing inspection and maintenance responsibilities are clear.

Authorities should also have regard to current and forthcoming legislation on smoke-free, heated tobacco-free and vape-free places. Where playgrounds are covered by statutory requirements or local policy, appropriate signage and communications should be included as part of project planning, installation and site management.

Procurement frameworks with public sector buying organisations

In delivering their projects, local authorities should use their grant funding in line with their own local governance, assurance and value‑for‑money arrangements. Where appropriate, authorities may wish to consider opportunities to support local and British businesses as part of their project delivery.

MHCLG is not prescribing how local authorities should procure goods or services using this funding. Local authorities may wish to consider how procurement can support value for money, social value and local economic benefit, where this is consistent with relevant procurement law, grant conditions and local governance requirements.

Any procurement activity remains the responsibility of the local authority and should be undertaken in accordance with its own policies and relevant legislation. Authorities should ensure that procurement decisions are transparent, proportionate and properly documented.

To alleviate administrative burdens and ensure quality equipment is selected, authorities may wish to consider using public sector buying organisation deals such as the below frameworks:

• Eastern Shires Purchasing
• Yorkshire Purchasing

If purchasing equipment from suppliers outside of approved frameworks, authorities should ensure that designers, manufacturers, installers and surfacing contractors can demonstrate relevant competence, experience and compliance with applicable standards. Membership of recognised trade bodies, such as the Association of Play Industries and/or the Sports and Play Construction Association, may provide useful assurance as part of procurement due diligence.

Authorities should also consider whether suppliers can demonstrate experience in accessible and inclusive playground design, risk-benefit approaches, community engagement, installation quality, warranties, inspection, maintenance and aftercare.