Play England welcomes stronger protections for play in the new NPPF
Play England welcomes the publication of the new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), which strengthens the recognition of children’s play within national planning policy and builds directly on changes Play England has helped secure over the past two years.
The new framework retains and extends important protections for play. Most significantly, Policy HC7 now explicitly protects both formal and informal play space from loss, building on the 2024 NPPF change which, for the first time, explicitly protected formal play spaces.
Policy HC1 has also been strengthened from the consultation draft. It now requires local plans to set standards for recreational land and facilities, including play, rather than referring only to outdoor recreational land. It also states that policies for play and informal recreation should seek to secure a connected network of high-quality, inclusive and accessible opportunities.
These are important gains.
From a 2024 policy win to a stronger national framework
In December 2024, following sustained advocacy by Play England and partners, the NPPF was amended to explicitly recognise the need to safeguard formal play spaces for the first time. We described this at the time as ‘a significant manifesto win’ but also made clear that stronger implementation and a wider play sufficiency approach were still needed.
That work continued.
In June 2025, during the passage of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, Play England worked with Tom Hayes MP to introduce NC82, the Play Sufficiency amendment. The amendment sought to require planning authorities to assess and secure sufficient opportunities for children’s play.
Although the Government did not legislate for the duty, the Minister for Housing and Planning, Matthew Pennycook MP, explicitly recognised the case being made and committed to considering play as part of the new national planning policies.
That commitment led directly into the Government’s consultation on the new NPPF and Design and Placemaking Planning Practice Guidance, to which Play England submitted a detailed response in March 2026. Our response called for stronger protection of play space, clearer recognition of play sufficiency, better accessibility standards, stronger spatial evidence and effective oversight.
The publication of the 2026 NPPF is therefore another important point in a clear line of policy change secured through sustained advocacy.
Tom Hayes MP, Chair of the APPG on Play said:
“This is a real step forward for children’s play and shows what sustained Parliamentary and sector advocacy can achieve.
When I brought forward the Play Sufficiency amendment with Play England last year, the Government committed in Parliament to look again at how national planning policy could better support children’s opportunities to play. We now have a stronger NPPF which explicitly protects both formal and informal play space and expects local planning to create connected, inclusive and accessible opportunities for play.
There is still further to go, but this matters. The places where children live should be places where they are free to play, and planning policy has a fundamental role in making that possible.”
What the new NPPF says about play
The new framework contains several important provisions and protections for children’s play.
Under HC1: Planning for healthy communities, development plans should:
set local standards for recreational land and facilities, including play
take account of both quantitative and qualitative provision
consider opportunities to reduce inequalities
ensure that policies for play and informal recreation seek a connected network of high-quality, inclusive and accessible opportunities.
Under HC4, local communities should be engaged in the design of new community facilities, with children and families explicitly referenced where new or improved play facilities are involved.
The glossary definition of community facilities has also been broadened to include youth centres, alongside facilities for play, sport and informal recreation, providing wider recognition of the social infrastructure children and young people need.
Under HC7: Development affecting existing recreational land and facilities, the NPPF now expressly protects existing formal and informal play space. Where provision is lost, replacement will normally need to be equivalent or better in both quantity and quality and offer comparable or improved accessibility.
For Play England, the inclusion of informal play space is particularly significant. Children do not only play in designated playgrounds. They play in streets, parks, open spaces, estates and the wider public realm. Recognition of formal and informal play moves national planning policy closer to the principle of play sufficiency.
Some ground has been lost from the consultation draft
The final NPPF is not everything Play England asked for. Compared with the December 2025 consultation draft, some explicit references to play have been removed, including the reference to children’s play areas within the Traveller Sites policy and the specific reference to play within part of HC7.
The glossary definition of Net Developable Area no longer explicitly references children’s play areas. However, the revised definition continues to exclude parks, public squares and open spaces that deliver wider green infrastructure benefits, so we regard this as a loss of explicit visibility for play rather than a major weakening of protection.
We would have preferred these explicit references to remain and will continue to press for consistency and clarity. But taken as a whole, the final NPPF remains a significant improvement for play, with some provisions, particularly HC1, strengthened from the consultation draft.
But the core position remains positive: compared with the 2024 NPPF, the new framework represents a broader and more explicit recognition of play across national planning policy.
Eugene Minogue, Executive Director, Play England said:
“This is meaningful national policy change for play and another important milestone in Play England’s sustained work to put children’s right to play at the heart of planning policy.
In 2024 we helped secure explicit protection for formal play spaces for the first time. We then worked with Tom Hayes MP to take the principle of play sufficiency into Parliament through NC82, securing a clear commitment from the Minister to consider further changes to national planning policy. The new NPPF now goes further, including explicit recognition and protection of both formal and informal play space.
We should take the win, but the work is not finished. England still needs a clear play sufficiency approach so that every community understands whether children have enough high-quality, accessible and inclusive opportunities to play. Our focus now must be on turning stronger national policy into real change in the places where children live.”
Expertise and enforcement matter too
Stronger policy only matters if it can be applied effectively.
Play England has consistently argued that national planning policy must be backed by specialist expertise and effective scrutiny. We therefore also welcome the Government’s decision to retain Sport England’s statutory consultee role for the most significant planning applications affecting playing fields and community sport. Sport England will continue to provide expert advice on high-impact cases, albeit with a more focused remit.
This matters because protection on paper must translate into protection in practice.
The next step is play sufficiency
The 2026 NPPF is an important step forward, but it does not yet deliver the full play sufficiency duty Play England has advocated for.
Our position remains clear: local authorities should be required to understand whether children have sufficient opportunities to play, considering quantity, quality, accessibility, inclusivity and integration within their everyday neighbourhoods.
That is why Play England is continuing to develop Playces, in partnership with the University of Sheffield, to support evidence-led play sufficiency assessment, monitoring and evaluation.
The new NPPF provides a stronger policy foundation. The next challenge is implementation.
Play England will continue working with Government, Parliament, local authorities, Sport England and the built environment sector to ensure that the progress secured in national policy translates into more and better opportunities for children to play where they live.
This is another important step in a longer campaign: from securing protection for formal play spaces in 2024, through the Play Sufficiency amendment in Parliament, to a stronger national planning framework in 2026.
The detail will matter
The NPPF is only one part of the picture. Play England also responded to the Government’s consultation on the new Design and Placemaking Planning Practice Guidance (DPPPG), which will be critical in translating these national policy commitments into planning and design practice.
The draft DPPPG went further in recognising the spectrum of places and spaces in which children play, including doorstep play, streets and public spaces, play along the way, and formal play provision. It also included important proposals around accessibility, walking and wheeling distance, design codes and the relationship between play opportunities across neighbourhoods.
Play England therefore looks forward to considering the final DPPPG alongside the new NPPF when it is published. The combination of stronger national policy and clear implementation guidance will be critical if the progress secured for play is to translate into better places for children to live and play.
#ItAllStartsWithPlay!