Purpose
As part of the evidence gathering process for the Local Development Plan, this consultative draft of the Outer Hebrides Play Sufficiency Assessment, audits and provides a basic assessment of the provision and distribution of designated outdoor play opportunities for children and young people in the Outer Hebrides area. It invites comments on current provision, condition and future requirements which may help inform where improvements are required in the future. This forms part of a wider commitment to ensure all children have access to quality play in their own community.
What is a Play Sufficiency Assessment?
- The Planning (Scotland) Act 2019 inserted section 16D Play Sufficiency Assessment into the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 ("the Act") with regard to local development plans. Section 16D (1) of the Act sets out that a planning authority must assess the sufficiency of play opportunities for children in its area in preparing an evidence report.
- A Play Sufficiency Assessment (PSA) is intended to provide an overall picture as to the provision and distribution of outdoor play opportunities for children and young people across the whole of a local authority area. Children/Children and young people refer to persons under the age of 18 years. In the context of PSA, “play spaces” means outdoor spaces which are accessible to the public and which offer play opportunities for children.
- Throughout the eleven wards in the Outer Hebrides, seventy-seven play spaces were audited during 2024/25 and of those, fifty-four facilities that are accessible to the public, free to access and open to all were mapped and assessed in terms of quality, quantity and accessibility. Those play parks that were dismantled, no longer maintained or are not accessible by the public have not been assessed as part of the PSA.