As we watched our Lionesses storm to victory, their success reminds us of the magic that happens when young people have the space to play and dream. From their early days of using jumpers for goalposts to achieving international glory, our local parks and pitches are the very first arenas in which our nation’s sporting legends are born.
Yet there is a troubling contradiction: while England continues to bask in the success of our Lionesses once more, the government is pressing ahead with reforms that put these spaces at risk. The uncomfortable reality is that there is a continuing erosion of children’s access to parks, playing fields, playgrounds and pitches.
An enduring truth is that green spaces shape us when young, keep us healthy as we age, and serve as places where lasting friendships are formed, memories are made, and first goals are scored. Our sporting heroes did not emerge from nowhere. Each and every one of them was forged in their local parks, school playing fields and community pitches, nurtured by communities who recognised the value of these spaces.
Parks and green spaces are not just nice to have; they are quiet societal powerhouses. Annually, they help save the NHS £111m through associated health and mental health benefits, the equivalent of the salaries of 3,500 nurses. These spaces are also estimated to provide over £34bn in health and wider wellbeing benefits each year.
Sadly, despite this overwhelming evidence, we are witnessing their steady decline. Eight hundred parks and playgrounds have closed in just the last decade, a significant loss that has disproportionately impacted the communities that need them most. One in three children now lacks access to a nearby park or place to play, limiting the opportunities that National Play Day exists to celebrate.
This decline stems from multiple factors. All too often, these spaces are treated as afterthoughts in new developments – the lone seesaw amid the concrete – demonstrating that we need a more holistic, joined-up approach to the services needed to enable new communities to thrive.
Meanwhile, over the long term, our green spaces are under-resourced, as local authorities face difficult choices between funding essential services and maintaining green spaces that bind communities together. The reality is that those who need green spaces the most – those from lower-income families, ethnically diverse communities and young people – are feeling this impact first.
With rising youth inactivity costing billions to the economy each year, and one in five children experiencing probable mental health disorders, the importance of protecting these spaces for our children’s health, wellbeing and play has never been clearer. Still, government policy is moving in the opposite direction.
Its Planning and Infrastructure Bill, which is currently going through the House of Lords, would see Sport England removed as a statutory consultee on planning decisions. This seemingly technical change would weaken protections for playing fields, potentially seeing thousands of pitches lost forever to development.
This decision not only risks undermining access to sport when participation in girls’ and women’s sports is soaring, it also threatens to accelerate this decline at precisely the moment we need to be reversing it. We are now putting in jeopardy the very infrastructure that creates sporting excellence while celebrating its results.
The need for systemic change in planning policy has never been more urgent. The removal of Sport England from its essential role in planning decisions must be reversed. Planners, developers, and local authorities should recognise green spaces as essential infrastructure, not luxury add-ons, and we need minimum standards for green space provision in new developments.
Long term, we need a national spatial strategy to guarantee sufficient levels and quality of local green space, with greater investment in local planning to ensure community voices are heard in the process.
This is where organisations like Fields in Trust play a vital role. As the UK charity dedicated to protecting parks, playing fields, playgrounds and green spaces, we have legally safeguarded 3,000 green spaces across the country, giving 9 million people the opportunity to live within a 10-minute walk of permanently protected space. Our work ensures these precious areas remain available for communities to enjoy forever.
From grassroots pitches to Euros finals, the continuum of opportunity begins in local parks and playing fields. The choice before us is stark: protect these spaces now or lose them forever.
We can choose to honour our champions by safeguarding the spaces that helped shape them, or we can celebrate their success while condemning future generations to watch from concrete sidelines. If we want future Lionesses to roar, we must ensure they have somewhere to learn how to play first. Their triumph demands nothing less.
Helen Griffiths is the CEO of Fields in Trust
