Leeds Play Streets: giving children the space to just be kids

In the Holbeck area of Leeds, a residential street, Colenso Mount, has been temporarily closed to traffic for the first time, giving children the chance to ride scooters, play football, draw with chalk and simply enjoy being outside together safely. It's called a Play Street, and it's making a real difference to the families who live there.

Play Streets were first introduced in 2009 by a group of parents in Bristol who wanted to show that playing out near home should feel normal, not like a special occasion. Since then, around 100 councils across the UK have adopted a Play Street policy, with more than 1,600 streets now regularly closing to traffic.

Catherine Peacock from Leeds charity KidzKlub has helped organise around 100 Play Streets across the city, and Leeds City Council has made a point of making sure the benefits are felt where they're needed most.

It matters because the picture for children's outdoor play in England is a concerning one. Research from the Centre for Young Lives found that children today spend half as much time in unstructured outdoor play as any previous generation. A survey by campaign group Play Their Way found that nearly half of parents feel their child doesn't have a safe place to play outdoors.

For families in areas like Holbeck, Play Streets are filling that gap, creating safe, welcoming spaces where children can be children and where neighbours get to know each other too.

At Yorkshire Sport Foundation, we know that movement and play in childhood lay the foundation for a lifetime of activity. Stories like this one remind us why creating the right environments for children to move freely and joyfully matters so much.

Read the full story on the BBC website and find out more about the national Play Their Way campaign at Sport England.

Image credit: Sport England