Less than half of £60m Sturgeon earmarked for playpark facelifts has been spent

Almost five years after Nicola Sturgeon promised to spend £60 million to “renew every playpark in Scotland”, less than half of the money has actually been spent.

The landmark plan, which was a 2021 SNP manifesto pledge in the wake of the Covid pandemic, was designed to help improve the life chances of children born during the crisis.

But analysis by The Sunday Post has found that at the end of the last financial year – around one year from the next Scottish Parliament election – just over £31.5m had been handed out to local authorities to complete the work.

Meanwhile, the amount actually spent was even lower, at less than £24.5m.

These figures do not take into account money given to or spent by East Renfrewshire Council, who did not respond to a freedom of information request, or Fife Council – the only authority in Scotland to claim it does not have information on its own spending.

While some councils, such as Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Highland, have already allocated more than they have received so far, many others fall far behind.

Glasgow has received more than £3.6m but until March had spent less than £570,000 – just shy of 16%.

The Western Isles had the smallest percentage spent anywhere in the country – at less than 9% – but received a much lower amount of funding, at £216,000.

South Lanarkshire had allocated just over 35% of the money it had received, Falkirk came in at just below 38% and Angus at just over 46%.

Earlier this year, John Swinney announced the final £25m of funding will be delivered with a focus on inclusive play.

However, political opponents have accused the Scottish Government of a “cruel” failure to deliver on its full pledge and warn the children the money was promised to will be too old to use the swings and the chutes by the time they are built.

Analysis by councils body Cosla in 2023 showed just 2,000 of Scotland’s 4,787 parks will benefit from the cash. A total of 887 had been renewed as of March last year.

The Scottish Government also admitted it would cost more than double the £60m to upgrade all playparks in Scotland, with the estimated cost of more than £141m.

Scottish Conservative equalities spokeswoman Tess White said: “These figures highlight some discrepancies in how the cash has been allocated between city and rural areas.

“There are also massive underspends in the likes of South Lanarkshire and Glasgow. The SNP aren’t just letting councils down, it is children who have been left with rotting equipment in playparks across Scotland.”

© Sandy McCook / DC Thomson

However, some experts believe the slow spending could be a sign of good decision making at a local level.

Marguerite Hunter Blair is chief executive of Play Scotland, which promotes the importance of play for child development. Hunter Blair says she was frustrated when money was first handed out to councils because many were simply not prepared – especially with new legislation coming into place around the same time.

She said: “Our experience of most local authorities was that they didn’t have their parks mapped, they didn’t know where children played and they hadn’t overlaid it with simple information like whether the parks are in the right place for where children live.

“The change in the Planning Act in 2019 was really a game changer. However, the guidance and regulations didn’t come out until 2023. In the middle of all this going on, the commitment of £60m came in.

“I was concerned that the money had come in before the regulations and guidance, which is all about consulting with children, young people, families and communities about the plans being put in place.”

The change in the law has seen councils consult children on an unprecedented scale, with tens of thousands being asked for their view.

Hunter Blair believes there is an “exciting story” developing in Scotland that could put it far ahead of the rest of the UK in providing play in public spaces.

The charity boss said the slow spending now matches with the pace of authorities doing proper assessments on the best ways to spend the cash.

She added: “What’s happening now is the spend is aligning with the findings of these place efficiency assessments and that’s what you want.

“You don’t want blind spending, you want informed spending. I think what’s happening is that we’re getting smart spending now.”