Space to Play
The space to play campaign and multiple use sports facilities
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What will your councillors do on play? Space to Play is asking you to write to them.
The Space to Play campaign wants South Lanarkshire to be the best place to bring up children. So we want to know what our elected members will do to act on play. To do this we need your help. Please use this letter as a guide to contact your councillors where ever you are in South Lanarkshire. Change it to mention any particular issues around play in your community. And please send this Space to Play a copy of the reply on spacetoplaysl@gmail.com. The letter is also available as plain text if your device cannot read .odt files You can find contact details for your South Lanarkshire councillor here.
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South Lanarkshire Council removal of play park ‘unlawful’
South Lanarkshire Council acted unlawfully when it removed Hazelhead Play Park. They should have applied for planning permission to make this material change to land. When they acted without consultation, they also ignored their own planning guidance which states that communities should be involved in the management of their open spaces. These are the conclusions of the Environmental Rights Centre for Scotland (https://www.ercs.scot) who have looked into the Hazelhead Park case. We have now submitted a formal complaint to SLC raising these points, as follows: Stage one complaint Removal of Hazelhead play park equipment I wish to make a stage one complaint as per the Council’s complaints procedure regarding the…
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Green MSP Gillian Mackay takes Space to Play Campaign to Parliament
A South Lanarkshire campaign group is calling on the Council to recognise the importance of play for children’s’ wellbeing and to take action to improve play opportunities in local communities. The Space to Play campaign is asking South Lanarkshire Council to prepare a play strategy, to open up Multi Use Games Areas (MUGA) out-with school hours and to renew all local play parks. The group has been backed by Scottish Greens MSP Gillian Mackay who recently raised a motion in parliament. The Central Scotland MSP believes that implementing these actions will help ensure that South Lanarkshire upholds the rights of children to play and be heard, as enshrined in the United…
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Greens secure reopening of multi-use games areas after ‘Space to Play’ campaign
Campaigners are celebrating the re-opening of community facilities, some of which have been closed to the public for many years. In January, Kirsten Robb from the Scottish Greens and The Space to Play campaign wrote to South Lanarkshire Council (SLC) to highlight that in and around one council ward, 4 of the 7 multi-use games areas (MUGAs) attached to new primary schools were closed. This is despite the intention for these MUGAs to be open out of school hours for community use and only to be closed for a short period if there were vandalism issues. After several emails and meetings between SLC and the campaign, another 3 MUGA’s were…
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Space to Play
Many local people told Green activists that one of their top concerns is a lack of things for young people to do. Since then, local resident and Green campaigner, Kirsten Robb, has been investigating local play spaces and working with the community to get improvements.
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MUGA update
Multi Use Games Areas (MUGAs) and football pitches in schools are fabulous spaces to help increase health, wellbeing and community activity, safely away from traffic hazards. They are meant to be freely available to local communities outwith school hours, but many of these are now locked up. Support our call for South Lanarkshire Council to open up more MUGA’s and school football pitches for local communities. New Multi Use Games Areas (MUGAs) and football pitches have been built alongside new primary and secondary schools across South Lanarkshire over the past decade or so. Investigating these in her local ward, East Kilbride East resident and Green campaigner, Kirsten Robb, was told…
