Date of meeting: 29 January 2026
Proposer: Cllr Hill
Seconder: Cllr Shanks
Ward(s) affected: All
Notice of Motion
Green Group
This Council notes:
1) The right to play should be available to all people in Brighton & Hove, especially children and young people.
2) Quality play opportunities are essential to physical and cognitive development.
3) Outdoor play in England has halved in a generation according to Raising the Nation’s Play Commission due playground closures, busier roads, shortened school break times and the use of smartphones.
4) Play England has proposed that City Planning should place play alongside housing, infrastructure and sustainability as a core element of spatial planning in the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF)
Therefore, resolves to:
1) Ask the Council Leader to write to Baroness Taylor of Stevenage echoing Play England’s request for a House of Lords amendment to the NPPF to create a statutory requirement for play sufficiency on local authorities.
2) Ask the People Overview and Scrutiny Committee to consider setting up a ‘Play Sufficiency’ Task and Finish Group. This may consider areas such as:
· An audit of existing play provision
· Removing ‘no ball games’ signs, and similar, from public land and encourage private landowners to do so.
· A map of smaller green spaces that could be used for play.
· Looking at ways to ensure new developments are considerate to the needs of children and young people as part of the City Plan.
· Seeking to invest capital funding into play parks and facilities that are accessible to all.
· Investigating ways to improve access to nature-based play.
· Designating a Councillor to act as the city’s ‘play champion’
Supporting Information:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czednjy7wlxo
https://www.playscotland.org/resources/print/Getting-It-Right-For-Play-2025.pdf?plsctml_id=25096
Examples of play sufficiency assessments which are required in Wales & Scotland:
https://www.eastdunbarton.gov.uk/media/jewbfkgx/1-edc-play-sufficiency-assessment_full.pdf