Worked play space calculation for a forty home scheme

A play space calculation starts with children, not with square metres. Work out the child yield from the dwelling mix, split it into age groups, apply the adopted standard per child, and only then look at what the layout can accommodate. Doing it the other way round, by finding a leftover corner and calling it play space, is what produces the objection that provision is token. Every figure below is illustrative, and the real numbers come from the authority's own adopted standard and yield assumptions.

The worked example runs through a 40 home scheme of mixed tenure, which is the size at which play space becomes an issue without triggering the full open space requirements of a major scheme.

Deriving child yield from the dwelling mix

Child yield is the estimated number of children a development will house, derived from the number of bedrooms, the tenure and the dwelling type. It is not a headcount of the buyers; it is a planning assumption based on published occupancy data.

Most authorities publish yield factors in a supplementary planning document on planning obligations or on open space, and in London the Greater London Authority publishes a population yield calculator that boroughs expect applicants to use. Where no local factors exist, the authority will normally nominate a source.

The variables that matter are bedroom count, which drives the yield strongly, and tenure, because affordable rented housing typically houses more children per dwelling than market housing of the same size. A scheme of 40 two bedroom flats produces a very different yield from 40 four bedroom houses, and averaging across the scheme hides that.

Set the mix out as a table and apply the factors row by row. Then state the source of the factors, with the document title and date, in the same table. Illustrative example:

Round the total to 28 children and carry that forward. The yield factors in that table are assumptions for illustration only and must be replaced with the authority's own.

Applying the adopted play space standard

Standards are expressed per child, and the figure varies between authorities. The London Plan standard of 10 square metres of play space per child is the most widely quoted example of an adopted standard, and many authorities outside London adopt something comparable or express the requirement as a quantum of open space per thousand population.

Applying 10 square metres per child to the illustrative yield of 28 children gives 280 square metres of play space. That is the headline requirement, and it is the number an officer will look for first.

Two refinements matter. Some standards exclude the youngest age group from the on-site requirement where doorstep provision is integrated into the landscape rather than provided as a discrete space. And some express the requirement as a minimum area for a formal play space, below which a commuted sum is preferred, because a very small equipped area serves nobody well.

Read the standard as written rather than as remembered. Authorities revise these figures, and a calculation using a superseded standard is the easiest thing for an officer to reject.

Age group categories and their provision

Children of different ages need different things, and the standard usually splits the requirement accordingly.

Provision for under fives is doorstep: close to home, visible from dwellings, small, informal, and reached without crossing a road. Provision for roughly five to eleven year olds is local: larger, equipped, with some separation from dwellings for noise, and within a short walk. Provision for twelve and over is neighbourhood scale: informal space for hanging out, ball games or wheeled activity, deliberately further from housing because of noise.

Split the illustrative 28 children into age bands using the same source as the yield factors, then allocate the 280 square metres across the bands. A scheme of 40 homes will usually only justify on-site provision for the two younger bands, with the oldest band addressed by a contribution towards existing facilities nearby, provided those facilities exist and are accessible.

That last proviso does real work. An argument that teenagers are served by a park 900 metres away across a distributor road will be tested, and should be evidenced with a walking route rather than a straight line on a plan.

Doorstep, local and neighbourhood provision

The design consequences differ by category and the assessment should address each.

• Doorstep provision needs natural surveillance from habitable rooms, a boundary that keeps toddlers in, no through route for vehicles, and shade in summer.
• Local equipped provision needs equipment to the relevant European standards for play equipment and impact absorbing surfaces, a safe route from the dwellings it serves, seating for supervising adults, bins, and separation from the nearest window to manage noise.
• Youth provision needs to be somewhere young people will actually go, which usually means near a route rather than tucked behind housing, with lighting considered and its effects on neighbours assessed.

Show each space on a plan with its area annotated, its age group stated and the walking distance from the furthest dwelling it serves. A Play Space Assessment that gives areas without walking distances leaves the officer to measure them, and they will.

Coordinate the spaces with the wider landscape proposals, because play space frequently ends up in conflict with attenuation features, root protection areas and sight lines. Our note on how a Landscape Strategy is assembled covers that coordination.

Where a commuted sum replaces on site space

Payments in lieu are common on schemes of this size and they are not automatic.

A financial contribution secured by a section 106 agreement has to satisfy the statutory tests: it must be necessary to make the development acceptable in planning terms, directly related to the development, and fairly and reasonably related in scale and kind to it. An unevidenced contribution towards play space generally will not satisfy those tests.

What does satisfy them is a contribution tied to identified works at an identified facility within a stated distance, with the works described and, ideally, costed from the authority's own programme. Ask the authority which facility the money will be spent on and what the works are, and record the answer in the planning statement.

Two practical points. Contributions calculated per child using a published formula are much easier to defend than negotiated lump sums. And where the authority's open space evidence base identifies a deficiency in the area, say so, because that is the evidence that makes the contribution necessary. The same discipline applies to the assumptions in a viability appraisal inputs schedule, since contributions and viability are assessed together.

Maintenance and adoption arrangements

The question every officer asks and many applications answer badly: who maintains this in fifteen years.

Three routes exist. Adoption by the local authority, usually with a commuted maintenance sum covering a defined period. A management company funded by estate charges on the dwellings. Or a community or parish body taking it on, which needs their written agreement rather than an assumption.

Whichever route is proposed, the submission should state the route, the funding mechanism, the inspection regime for equipment, and what happens if the management company fails. Play equipment needs routine inspection and periodic replacement, and a scheme that provides equipment with no funded replacement cycle is providing a liability.

Where adoption is proposed, check early whether the authority is accepting adoptions at all. Many are not, and discovering that at the section 106 stage delays completion.

Illustrative figures for a mixed tenure scheme

Pulling the illustrative example together. Forty homes, an assumed child yield of 28, an assumed standard of 10 square metres per child, giving 280 square metres. Allocate roughly a fifth to doorstep provision in two small spaces close to the family housing, roughly half to a single equipped local area, and address the remainder by a contribution towards identified works at an existing facility within walking distance.

Then state, plainly, the three things a reviewer will test: the source of the yield factors, the source of the standard, and the walking distances. Every number in this example is illustrative and must be replaced with local figures before submission.

Where the scheme also triggers a wider open space requirement, the play space calculation should sit inside the Open Space Assessment rather than contradict it, using one set of areas and one dwelling mix.

This is general guidance, not legal advice; check the position with your local planning authority or a qualified professional before relying on it.

PlanScope can draft the play space and open space documents in the structure officers expect, marking clearly every figure that needs replacing with the authority's own standard. For specialist technical reports, qualified professional input may be required.

PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval.