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WEST LANCASHIRE BOROUGH COUNCIL DRAFT PLAY AREA ASSESSMENT Appendix 3 WEST LANCASHIRE BOROUGH COUNCIL DRAFT PLAY AREA ASSESSMENT DECEMBER 2014 WEST LANCASHIRE BOROUGH COUNCIL DRAFT PLAY AREA ASSESSMENT Contents PART 1: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................ 4 1.1 Methodology............................................................................................................ 4 PART 2: CONTEXT .......................................................................................................... 7 2.1 National guidance.................................................................................................... 7 2.2 Local context ........................................................................................................... 9 PART 3: VISION AND ROLE OF PLAY FACILITIES ...................................................... 11 3.1 Vision .................................................................................................................... 11 PART 4: SETTING STANDARDS ................................................................................... 12 4.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 12 4.2 Quantity standards ................................................................................................ 12 4.3 Quality standards .................................................................................................. 17 4.4 Value standards .................................................................................................... 19 4.3 Accessibility standards .......................................................................................... 20 PART 5: APPLICATION OF STANDARDS & STRATEGIC IMPLICATIONS ................... 22 5.1 Quality and value matrix ........................................................................................ 22 5.2 Accessibility........................................................................................................... 25 5.3 Quantity................................................................................................................. 28 PART 6: RECOMMENDATIONS AND FUTURE ACTIONS ............................................ 32 6.1 Recommendations ................................................................................................ 32 6.2 Developer contribution requirement ....................................................................... 33 APPENDIX ONE ............................................................................................................. 35 Quality and value matrix .............................................................................................. 35 APPENDIX TWO ............................................................................................................ 38 Site criteria and scoring ............................................................................................... 38 WEST LANCASHIRE BOROUGH COUNCIL DRAFT PLAY AREA ASSESSMENT Glossary DCLG Department for Communities and Local Government DPD Development Plan Document FIT Fields in Trust GIS Geographical Information Systems LDF Local Development Framework MUGA Multi-use Games Area (an enclosed area using a synthetic grass or hard surface for playing sports) NPPF National Planning Policy Framework ONS Office of National Statistics PPG Planning Policy Guidance SPD Supplementary Planning Document WLBC West Lancashire Borough Council WEST LANCASHIRE BOROUGH COUNCIL DRAFT PLAY AREA STRATEGY PART 1: INTRODUCTION This is the Play Area Assessment for West Lancashire Borough Council (WLBC). This document replaces a previous Strategy, referred to as the Play Strategy for West Lancashire, published in 2004. The purpose of the Play Area Assessment is to clearly determine our (the Council’s) rationale for involvement in forms of play provision and to ensure that investment and input is based upon a robust needs assessment. 1.1 Methodology The Assessment provides detail with regard to what play provision exists in West Lancashire, its condition, distribution and overall quality. The updating of provision in relation to quantity, quality and accessibility has been undertaken as part of this. It also considers the demand for provision based on population distribution, planned growth and consultation findings. The Strategy provides direction on the future provision of accessible, high quality, sustainable provision for play in West Lancashire. It conforms to the stages recommended within Assessing Needs and Opportunities: A Companion Guide to PPG17 (as a available form of national best practice guidance). This suggests the following steps should be followed; Identifying local needs Auditing local provision Setting local standards Applying provision standards Providing recommendations Identifying local needs The identification of local needs for play provision helps to establish whether current provision is viewed as sufficiently meeting the needs of communities. It also assists in highlighting local aspirations and possible demands in the future. Consultation to identify local needs has been undertaken through meetings with WLBC Leisure Managers, which are responsible for play, and with parish councils. The latter provides a useful method in capturing the broad views of local communities. In addition, parish councils are responsible for the management of a number of play sites. Auditing local provision To ensure a comprehensive audit all play sites are visited and assessed against quality and value criteria (as recommended by guidance). Quality and value scores are used to help set local standards which in turn can be used to determine the level of protection given to sites together with identification of potential surplus provision. Qualitative site data is measured against the criteria outlined within the Green Flag Award. A five point scale site assessment has been used based on this criteria including elements such as access, landscape quality, facilities, maintenance, management, security, heritage, education and meeting the needs of the local community. December 2014 P 4 WEST LANCASHIRE BOROUGH COUNCIL DRAFT PLAY AREA STRATEGY The criteria, built around Green Flag, are non technical visual assessments of the whole site, including general equipment and surface quality/appearance but also including an assessment of, for example, bench and bin provision. This differs, for example, from an independent RosPA review, which is a more technical assessment of equipment in terms of play and risk assessment grade. In order to take account of specific play area criteria we used an assessment pro-forma to assess, for example, equipment type and quality. Using data calculated from the site visits and desk based research a value score for each site is identified. Value is defined in the Companion Guide to PPG17 in relation to the following three issues: Context of the site i.e. its accessibility, scarcity value and historic value. Level and type of use. The wider benefits it generates for people, biodiversity and the wider environment. Play provision is scored for value as part of the audit assessment. In particular value is recognised in terms of size of sites and the range of equipment they host. For instance, a small site with only a single piece of equipment is likely to be of a lower value than a site with several different forms of equipment designed to cater for wider age ranges. Setting and applying local standards Once the assessment of local needs and audit of provision is completed, locally determined provision standards are developed in terms of quantity, quality and accessibility. These elements are informed by the consultation and, particularly, the development of a vision for provision. This follows the guidance set out in the companion guide to PPG17 and draws upon our previous experience of developing standards. Quantity standards Having reviewed the effectiveness of the current standards, we are in a good position to recommend new/updated standards to adopt. Importantly, these will take account of population growth (and changing demographics) to ensure that sufficient provision is made to cater for future residents. Quality standards In developing qualitative standards, we recommend threshold scores for facilities from the site assessment that will become the benchmark for provision across the Borough. For open spaces this generally starts by looking at the Green Flag Award site assessment pass mark of 66%. This is then informed by consultation and based on aspirations about quality across the Borough in order to provide a locally realistic standard. Accessibility standards Accessibility standards are based on distance thresholds; the maximum distance a typical user can reasonably be expected to travel to provision. Although not necessarily the same as effective catchments, they are used to inform development of standards. We utilise catchments established by national agencies such Sport England, FIT and Greater London Authority as a starting point. December 2014 P 5 WEST LANCASHIRE BOROUGH COUNCIL DRAFT PLAY AREA STRATEGY Providing recommendations Recommendations are drafted to address identified surpluses and deficiencies. Within this, we identify opportunities for play facilities to contribute to, and integrate with, other aims, policies and programmes. The study will therefore, include recommendations on:

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