The play sector and every local authority that worked hard to produce a play strategy for lottery funding will applaud the Children's Plan. It represents the biggest national investment ever made to children's play in England. Research has highlighted children's declining presence in the outdoor world. Traffic, fear of crime and negative attitudes to children in public have all helped to create the phenomenon of the "battery-reared" child. Children today are too often considered neither welcome nor safe to be out or they are frequently corralled into denatured and sanitised play areas of little value to...