The Leeds streets encouraging outdoor play

It’s the summer holidays for all parts of the UK at the moment, but if you’re a parent, how often are your children playing in the street outside?

Nearly half of parents (46%) say there aren’t enough safe places for their kids to play outside according to research out today from the Play their Way campaign, funded by Sport England.

Over half (56%) of parents they surveyed said social media was a barrier to playing outdoors.

A major report on play last year found children today spend half as much time in unstructured outdoor play than any generation before them, and partly blamed increased traffic and screentime for the decline.

The city of Leeds is attempting to reverse that trend by making it easier for residents to close their streets to traffic for a few hours so children can play safely — and by targeting so-called Play Streets in areas of the city where children might struggle to access green spaces.