News / Playing Out
How Bristol parents started an international movement for children’s freedom
About 17 years ago, a group of south Bristol parents started talking about how our children’s childhood was very different from our own.
Those of us who had grown up in cities had strong memories of playing outside on our own streets and around our neighbourhood – calling for friends, out until dark, having a sense of freedom and adventure.
This freedom to play outside meant we were really active and healthy, without even thinking about it.
Fast-forward to 2009 and our own children did not have this. Far from it.
Their lives were much more contained, indoors, isolated and sedentary.
We looked around and realised things had changed drastically in just one generation – and not in a good way.
Children’s health and wellbeing, especially for those facing inequality, was in a dire state. And the lack of freedom to be outside, everyday, walking, cycling, playing out, has definitely been a big part of this.
For us as parents, the main barrier to letting our children have this freedom was not smartphones (which were not really a thing then), but traffic.
Our streets lined with parked cars so a child can’t even see to cross the road safely. Drivers treating our residential streets as rat-runs and race-tracks. A general feeling that our streets had become places just for cars, not for children or community.
We decided to try and do something about this, so my neighbour Amy and I organised the first ever ‘temporary play street’, like a street party but just for a couple of hours after school – no organised activities, just a safe space for children to play freely together.
We closed the road to through-traffic, with residents able to drive in or out at walking speed. It was a huge success.
Loads of children came out to play, along with parents, grandparents and neighbours of all ages.
It showed us that what we were looking for was right there on our doorstep – that shared space where we could come together as a community.
Bristol City Council soon got behind the idea, seeing that it was a very low-cost, simple way to help children get the physical activity and social contact they needed, building community at the same time.
They implemented the first play street policy – allowing neighbours to apply for regular sessions through the year.
Soon, the idea spread across the UK and Bristol became a “beacon city” for play streets.
We set up Playing Out to support other parents to take action where they live, and to campaign for ALL children’s right to play out near home, for their health and wellbeing.
A successful Playing Out event in Barton Hill created a “village” for local families – photo: Playing Out
Seventeen years on, 250 street and estate communities across Bristol have organised regular playing out sessions and 100 other councils have copied Bristol’s pioneering play street policy.
Tens of thousands of children have ‘played out’ in their own streets and estates across the UK, with huge benefits for them and the wider community.
And the model has spread internationally, with play streets happening in Germany, Australia, Japan and many other countries.
Alongside growing this grassroots movement, Playing Out has campaigned for national policy to support children’s right to play out – making streets safer, removing ‘no ball games’ signs and protecting open spaces.
The government is finally starting to wake up to the idea that restoring children’s outdoor freedom could be a game-changer for their physical and mental health.
Now, our own children are grown up and so is the play street movement.
We’ve decided it’s time to release this movement into the world and Playing Out is “going home for tea” at the end of March.
But the council’s policy is very much continuing for anyone who wants to organise a play street with their neighbours.
Several community organisations across the city have kit and can support you to do this – and the Playing Out website will remain as a free resource full of advice, ideas and inspiration.
Finally, before we end the organisation, we are holding a conference at City Hall, bringing together community activists, campaigners, professionals and policy-makers with a shared aim of restoring children’s everyday freedom to be outside.
If you share this aim, do join us on March 12. You can find more information at www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/playing-out-and-beyond-tickets-1975813162356
Main photo: Playing Out
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