The Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea

Key Decision Report dated 17 June 2008

For Decision by Councillor Ritchie, Cabinet Member for Family and Children’s Services

Report by the Director for Community Learning

PLAY PATHFINDER - APPROVAL TO DRAW DOWN FUNDING

1 Introduction

1.1 I am writing to seek your approval to draw down the Play Pathfinder Capital and Revenue Grants 2008-11.

2 Background

2.1 In February 2008, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea was invited by the DCSF to bid for ‘Play Pathfinder Status’. As set out in the Children’s Plan, there is to be an investment of £265 million in play facilities in England. Approximately £2.5 million will be allocated to each of 30 local authorities awarded ‘Play Pathfinder Status’, whilst all remaining local authorities will receive £1.14 million each to develop play facilities as ‘Playbuilder’ local authorities.

2.2 The Play Pathfinder programme has the following requirements;

 The creation of at least one new adventure playground at a cost of £800,000.  The refurbishment or creation of a minimum of 26 smaller playgrounds at an average cost of £50,000.  To promote adventurous ‘risky’ play within a secure environment.  A focus on the 8-15 age range.  Link the Play Pathfinder investment to planning, transport, leisure, and other related council strategies.  Engage young people in positive activities.  Ensure that play provision is of high quality and is sustainable.

2.3 A bid was submitted to the DCSF in March 2008 setting out how the Royal Borough can meet the priorities of the Play Pathfinder programme by building on the Royal Borough’s highly acclaimed Play Strategy and the existing investment in play facilities and services.

2.4 The Royal Borough was informed that it had been successful in securing Play Pathfinder status in April 2008. The capital and revenue

1 grant allocation letter, with attached guidance, was received on Thursday June 5th 2008.

2.5 The capital allocation is £2,153,170 and is to be spent by March 2010. The outline plans for the expenditure of the capital resources in 2008-9, and for the adventure playgrounds, are attached as Appendix 1. The revenue allocation is £498,011 and has to be spent by March 2011.

2.6 The original time limit placed on the capital expenditure was March 2011. The March 2010 date indicated in the DCFS guidance will create difficulties for the effective planning of this investment, including the identification of appropriate sites for the new adventure playground in Chelsea. Despite this, council officers will endeavour to secure the most appropriate and cost effective projects with the capital resources available.

3 Need

3.1 The RBKC Play Strategy sets out the benefits of good quality and accessible play for children and young people. It recognises play as fundamental for the social, physical and emotional development of children and young people.

3.2 The Play Pathfinder provides an opportunity to go further in meeting the aspirations of the RBKC Play Strategy. In particular, investment will enable the council to invest in the following priorities in the Play Strategy;

 Enabling Improved Child Development  Providing Safe Play Opportunities  Enhancing the Quality of Play Facilities  Increasing Accessibility and Choice  Promoting Social Inclusion Through Supervised Play  Ensuring Children’s Participation in the Design and Maintenance of Play Facilities  Promoting Healthy Lifestyles Through Play and Sport  Ensuring All Children Can Access Good Quality Play.

3.3 In January 2007 the Play Service undertook an analysis of all play and open spaces in the Royal Borough. The analysis highlighted the areas of the borough with less play space and also assessed the quality of equipment in playgrounds, safety factors, and how accessible play was for children with disabilities. The play spaces analysis will help to inform the prioritisation of capital investment in the borough.

3.4 The Play Service works closely with colleagues in Parks, Housing, Planning, social landlords, the TMO, and the voluntary sector play

2 providers. There is a wealth of information held by these organisations that relates to the quality and maintenance of play areas in parks, housing estates and community amenity spaces. All of these partners will contribute to the prioritisation and delivery of play capital projects, ensuring that the Play Pathfinder maximises benefits to the borough’s children and families. A Play Pathfinder Team reflecting these agencies has been created to drive forward the Pathfinder project.

4 Project Management

4.1 A Project Board will oversee the effective development and delivery of the overall project, whilst a Project Team inclusive of key partners will ensure the delivery of individual projects.

4.2 A Programme Manager will be recruited to oversee the project and will be accountable to the Head of Extended Services and the Project Board.

5 Capital Projects - Adventure Playgrounds

5.1 Adventure Playground at Little - The Royal Borough has recently secured a 20 year agreement to manage the Little Wormwood Scrubs site in North Kensington. The Family and Children’s Services Business Group will be responsible for the existing adventure playground area in the south-west corner of the park.

5.2 The existing Little Wormwood Scrubs Adventure Playground is small and has poor quality equipment. There is a play hut that requires repair and does not support the provision of a varied programme of play and learning activities. The KIDS organisation is currently funded by the Royal Borough to deliver adventure play for local children and specialist play for children with disabilities at the Little Wormwood Scrubs site. The usage of the facility is very limited and could be greatly increased with improved facilities and increased opening hours.

5.3 The Play Pathfinder Bid prioritised a capital allocation of £210,000 for the refurbishment and expansion of Little Wormwood Scrubs Adventure Playground. This allocation is match funded by £114,000 of Section 106 capital from a residential development in Barlby Road. An additional £120,000 of capital funding has been identified by the Project Team following a more favourable capital allocation from the DCFS than first indicated.

5.4 At present, this project has secured £444,000. There is also potential to secure funding from the TELS Business Group for investment in parks, and the Big Lottery My Space Capital Programme. Once the

3 total allocation is known a major redevelopment project will be advanced for the playground.

5.5 The Play Service has secured agreement from the Friend of Little Wormwood Scrubs to increase the size of the Little Wormwood Scrubs Adventure Playground by 250% and to create a new play hut building for the service. Final approval of the Borough of and , as trustees of the land, is required and a planning application is also likely.

5.6 The new service at Little Wormwood Scrubs will have extended opening hours and will be targeted at local children and young people aged 5-15. The programme will be varied during evenings, weekends and holidays to engage children with disabilities, local children, and young people at risk of offending. The project will be developed in full consultation with the local community, children and young people, disability groups, parks, housing and social landlords, and the police.

5.7 In order to carry out the capital project the Little Wormwood Scrubs Adventure Playground site will be closed from November 2008 until April 2009. The new service will be delivered by a successful bidder following an exercise to tender the new service from April 2009. Revenue funding will be available through match funding of the Play Pathfinder capital and the council’s voluntary sector commissioning budget.

5.8 Adventure Playground in Chelsea – The brand new adventure playground highlighted in the Play Pathfinder bid is to be located in Chelsea. The bid allocated £590,000 of capital for this project. The potential site identified in the bid is in Hortensia Road. However, alternative sites are now being sought because it has transpired that this site will not be available until September 2010 as it will be the temporary location for the Chelsea Academy from September 2009.

5.9 Chelsea was identified as the priority location of a new adventure playground for several reasons;

 Worlds End is the only ward in the 20% most deprived in the Royal Borough without good access to an adventure playground.  Local supervised play facilities have been lost to make way for the Chelsea Academy site.  The Hortensia Road site has an existing building that can offer high quality activities for children and young people and a training facility for staff and volunteers.  There are a significant number of children and young people in the area that are not engaged in local projects or activities.

5.10There are a number of alternative sites for an adventure playground in Chelsea. It is proposed that detailed consultation is carried out

4 with the local community to identify a preferred site. If the preferred site is Hortensia Road then the Royal Borough will need to use the evidence of the local consultation to request to the DCSF that Play Pathfinder capital for this project be carried forward into 2010-11.

5.11The Chelsea consultation will take place in the autumn of 2008. All local residents’ groups, service providers, elected members and children and young people will be approached for their views.

6 Small Capital Projects – Playgrounds

6.1 The Council is required to create or refurbish 26 play areas using Play Pathfinder capital. The average allocation should be in the region of £50,000 per project, a limited sum for the delivery of high quality play provision. For example, recent large-scale playground refurbishments cost £1.3 million in Kensington Memorial Park, £120,000 in Holland Park, and £250,000 in Westfield Park.

6.2 Despite the limited sum of capital available for each project, the Play Pathfinder represents a good opportunity for the Council to enhance and bring forward planned capital investments for play in parks, housing estates, open spaces and in voluntary sector provision. There may also be a small number of brand new playgrounds created.

6.3 A major challenge will be to identify playground projects in areas of the borough with limited open space or existing playgrounds. Large parts of the middle and south of the borough have little public amenity space or play space that is accessible to the public. The majority of play space in these areas is in the form of private gardens which are in private ownership and not accessible to the general public.

6.4 The first meeting of the Play Pathfinder Project Team took place on June 17th 2008. The Project Team identified the projects listed in Appendix 1 for capital expenditure in Year 1 of the programme. It has considered a number of other projects for Year 2 of the programme but will consult with ward councillors and residents before making a final recommendation.

7 Revenue Funding

7.1 The Royal Borough has been allocated £498,011 for revenue expenditure. An approximate breakdown of revenue expenditure is provided as Appendix 2 to this report. Revenue expenditure is required to be allocated for project management costs, the staffing of adventure playgrounds, and provision of training for staff and volunteers. Any revenue funded projects will need to develop sustainability plans during the lifetime of the Play Pathfinder funding period.

5 8 Options

8.1 You have three options open to you:

Option 1 - You could agree with my recommendation to draw down the Play Pathfinder revenue and capital grants 2008-11 and endorse the plans for the expenditure of the resources outlined in this key decision and the Play Pathfinder Bid.

Option 2 - You could decide not to draw down the Play Pathfinder revenue and capital grants 2008-11. This would limit the potential for the council to enhance play spaces and adventure playgrounds in line with RBKC Play Strategy.

Option 3 – You could agree to draw down the Play Pathfinder revenue and capital grants 2008-11 but request that the proposals in this key decision report and Play Pathfinder Bid be revised.

9 Financial, Legal, Personnel and Equalities Implications

9.1 For 2008-11, the total allocation for the Royal Borough is £2,153,170 of capital and £498,011 of revenue funding. These resources will be managed by the Extended Services Team in Community Learning with the support of the Family and Children’s Services Asset Management and Finance teams. All expenditure must be reported to the DCFS in line with the conditions of grant.

9.2 A new post will be created of Play Pathfinder Programme Manager. This post will be for a 2 year fixed term contract to September 2010.

9.3 A new adventure playground will be created in Chelsea and an expanded adventure playground will be developed at Little Wormwood Scrubs. Both of these projects will receive Play Pathfinder revenue and voluntary sector grant revenue to March 2011. There is no guaranteed long-term funding for these projects and it is likely that they call upon additional grant funding from April 2011. Both projects may be allocated match funding as part of the current voluntary sector commissioning process.

9.4 Both of the adventure playground projects will require a voluntary sector provider to deliver the service. In the tendering exercise a key criteria for any successful provider will be the capacity of the organisation to raise external funding for the service. The future sustainability of both projects will be based on a combination of existing council funding through the voluntary sector grants allocations and the ability of the organisations and the community to raise additional resources.

9.5 An amount of revenue funding has been set aside to assist in the

6 development of volunteering in play settings. It is hoped that this will enhance the sustainability of the projects and encourage young people to become involved in their local adventure playgrounds. Where appropriate, volunteering will lead to accredited outcomes for young people and the basis for a career in the play sector.

9.6 There are no legal implications specifically arising from this report. The projects will be secured in accordance with the Council’s Financial Regulations.

9.7 There are significant equalities implications specifically arising from this report. There will be a significant investment in play for children with disabilities, including specialist facilities at the St Quintin’s Centre and KIDS Chelsea Adventure Playground. All playground investments will be assessed on their inclusive properties, including facilities for children with additional needs, safety, and accessibility to all groups.

9.8 We aim to invest in supervised adventure playgrounds located in areas of deprivation. These facilities will aim to engage all children, especially those at risk of exclusion or offending. Ethnic minority groups will be encouraged to actively participate in play projects.

9.9 We will aim to create a playground that is accessible to the Traveller community in North Kensington. We will use play worker staff to identify children and young people that can benefit from play and work to engage them in positive activities.

10 RECOMMENDATION

10.1 I recommend that you agree to draw down the Play Pathfinder revenue and capital grants 2008-11.

KAREN TYERMAN Director for Community Learning

ANNE MARIE CARRIE Executive Director, Family and Children’s Services

FOR COMPLETION BY AUTHOR OF REPORT:

Date of first appearance in Forward Plan: 30 June 2008

Key Decision reference identifier from Forward Plan: 02941/08/S/A

7 Background papers:

Conditions of Grant and Guidance 2008-09, Fair Play Pathfinder Capital and Revenue Grants

RBKC Play Strategy, August 2006

Play indicator Project, Play Spaces Accessibility Project, RBKC, 5th April 2007

RBKC Parks Strategy

Play Pathfinder, Project Initiation Document, June 2008

Play Pathfinder Bid, March 2008

Contact officer: Paul Williamson, Head of Extended Services Tel: 020 7938 8046 and E-mail: [email protected]

FOR COMPLETION BY GOVERNANCE SERVICES:

Report published on: 30 July 2008

Reported circulated to: the Family and Children's Services OSC on 30 July 2008

8 Appendix 1: Play Pathfinder Capital Projects 2008-9

Project Description Timescale Play Potential Pathfinder Match Capital Funding

Playground Funded From 2008-09 Investment Capital Allocation Treverton Estate Re-establishment of a large vacant play space Completion £40,000 £90,000 on Treverton housing by Sept 2008 (TMO) estate. Play equipment and sports court for 8- 15s Sunbeam Gardens Re-establishment of vacant play space as part Completion £40,000 £160,000 of overall refurbishment by December (TELS) of the park. Play 2008 facilities and youth shelter. Holland Park Return building to use Adventure Play for the Play Ranger base. Completion £45,000 BIG Lottery Area Carry out improvements by December to the external space for 2008 a games area. Holland Park Carry out repairs and Under 5s Area improvements to early Completion £40,000 TELS years sand play area. by March 2009 Chelsea Improve equipment and Adventure environment. Work with Completion £50,000 KIDS Playground for KIDS service provider. by March Children With 2009 Disabilities Hornimans Improvements to Adventure equipment and the Completion £50,000 Hornimans AP Playground outdoor play space. by March 2009 Mobile Play Purchase climbing wall Equipment Based and Spider Mountain, Purchased by £65,000 at a Play etc. Equipment would October 2008 Provider, enhance play across the Possibly borough. Parkwood Hall? St Quintin’s New play facility for Centre children with disabilities Completion £50,000 RBKC Capital at the St Quintin’s by December Programme Centre will open in 2008 2008. St Luke’s Contribution to the Completion Gardens creation of new and by September £40,000 TELS improved play facilities 2008.

9 in St Luke’s Gardens, South Kensington

Adventure Funded from 2009-10 Playgrounds Capital Allocation Little Wormwood Refurbishment and £114,000 Scrubs Adventure expansion of supervised Completion £330,000 (Section 106) Playground adventure playground by April BIG Lottery site. New buildings if 2009 funding is secured. Chelsea New supervised Completion Adventure adventure playground in by March £590,000 Playground the Chelsea area. 2010, if site Consultation required secured. with local community about preferred site.

10 Appendix 2 – Play Pathfinder Outline Revenue Budget 2008-11

Expenditure 2008-9 2009-10 2010-11

Project Management Costs 50,000 50,000 25,000

Office Costs 9,000 9,250 9,284 Dalgarno Play Centre – During closure of Little Wormwood Scrubs 40,000 Revenue Funding – Little Wormwood Scrubs 60,000 60,000 Revenue Funding – Chelsea Adventure Playground 20,000 33,034 60,000

Volunteer Support 1,443 12,000 12,000

Consultation 4,000 Training Provision for staff and volunteers in play settings 15,000 15,000 13,000

Total 139,443 179,284 179,284

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