Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to repair play facilities in parks.

The Secretary of State recognises the importance of parks and green spaces in building safer, stronger and more integrated communities and announced on 17 February £9.7 million funding for local authorities. The fund will be allocated directly to all local authorities with the expectation that they undertake remedial work and renovation of existing parks to enhance the green spaces available to their local communities. This direct funding to local authorities will enable them to target funds to those parks in need of greatest support and repair. We intend to confirm individual local authority allocations and transfer the funds before the end of March

The Government has also been expanding our existing £1 million Pocket Parks Plus programme by a further £2.75 million, to respond to the large numbers of high-quality applications we have received from communities across the country. The programme will provide funding for hundreds of community-led projects either to develop new parks or to renovate existing parks that have fallen into disuse through disrepair. By increasing both the number of new parks and improving the standard of existing parks, communities have better access to good quality green spaces.