THE government is to try to turn around the “no ball games” attitudes of councils and parents with the building of a new network of adventure playgrounds that encourage children to take risks and get dirty.

Details of the plans will be announced this week by Ed Balls, the children’s secretary, and Andy Burnham, the culture secretary when they release a national play strategy.

Ministers will also point to research showing how over-protective society has become, with one in three parents refusing to allow children to play outside their house or garden. As many as a quarter of those aged 8-10 have never even played outside with an adult.

They are concerned that children are being deprived by being kept inside, a trend encouraged by over-protective parents and “no ball games” signs placed on walls by councils and residents’ groups.

When the idea for more adventure playgrounds was first announced in last year’s children’s plan alongside a series of other measures designed to promote play, ministers were attacked for being nannyish.

The idea of a series of government initiatives and “pathfinder projects” fo children’s playing was attacked as “anti-fun”. A spokeswoman for the children’s department said this weekend, however, that government involvement in play would be an advantage.

She said play was “what children and young people do when they follow their own ideas and interest... balancing fun with a sense of respect for themselves and others.”

An award-winning playground in Glamis Road, east London, admired by Balls, features “big, mad swings,” as well as spaces for gardening, building camps, playing in water and even lighting fires. It strongly encourages play in bad weather and rolling in the dirt.

The adventure playgrounds will also include high-level walkways and climbing frames together with features such as pretend pirate ships or shops.

Balls and Burnham will announce the first 15 councils which will each receive £2m to set up “play pathfinder” projects.

Eventually, it is planned to build a network of 30 adventure playgrounds around the country. Many existing facilities have been condemned for being so overwhelmed by health and safety features that they are too boring to play in, particularly for older children.

A total of £225m will be spent on the play strategy over three years, paying for the replacement or refurbishment of 3,500 playgrounds, establishing more 20mph zones to make playing in the street safer and what Balls’s department calls “world class places for young people to go to”.

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