London Play joined playworkers, campaigners, advocates, and equipment manufacturers at the House of Commons this week to mark the launch of Play England’s 10 year strategy and a new All Party Parliamentary Group on Play.

Bournemouth East MP Tom Hayes hosted the event, telling those gathered: “We in Parliament, people from both parties, of both chambers, we are going to get loud. With your support I feel really confident that with this government, we are going to make changes.”

Improving play opportunities and playgrounds up and down the country was about “restoring hope and a sense of community,” he said.

Entitled ‘It Starts With Play’, the Play England strategy aims to make play a “normal, accepted and visible part of everyday life,” and to “restore a play-based childhood for all children in England by 2035.” The STAR Framework (Space, time, acceptance and rights) creates a structure for achieving the desired change.

Eugene Minogue, the executive director of Play England, told the Guardian that imposing a play sufficiency duty on local authorities as currently exists in Wales and Scotland would transform children’s lives. “Play sufficiency means making sure that every child has enough time, space, opportunity and freedom to play – wherever they live. It’s about making play part of how we plan and design our communities, not just something added afterwards (or forgotten altogether),” he said.

The membership of the APPG is yet to be announced however MPs attending the launch event included Tom Collins, MP for Worcester; MP for Dewsbury & Batley Iqbal Mohamed in addition to Mr Hayes.