Prince William speaking up for outdoor spaces for children to play.

My husband cares hugely about access to outdoor play areas for children and adults alike and has also written professionally about outdoor play so it's good to have someone on board who might actually generate a bit of interest.

I was in outer London yesterday (went to see the torch with the grandsons) and I was very taken with the way the whole community had come together to make a big celebration of it. That would not have been possible without the local green spaces. That particular area is very built up, but they have these lovely park areas where you can almost feel you are in the country! The families do make good use of them and their lives would be much the poorer if these areas were taken away from them.

Definitely worth protecting, and there will be more and more need to protect them in the future with councils having to shove houses in wherever they can.

Yes. Very good choice of cause for the young Royals to support.

I was at a Public Health conference and one of the topics was obesity and the need for children to have more exercise. The Government bangs on about this too and then allows LAs to sell off playing fields! What bugs me is that many school playing fields are lying fallow during school holidays. It would be great to have them in use for children to play in. Also houses today seem to be built with little outdoor space at all so that more buildings can be crammed in and it's an effort to bundle your children off to the local park which can be a car ride away - and then what if they need the loo? Bundle them back in the car and come home again? [Sorry couldn't resist ]. I was lucky as a child to have a large garden to play in and a beach at the end of the road I could go to with my friends when I was older.

School playing fields continue to be sold, as local councils get more and more desperate for cash.

Most certainly , as not all children have back gardens to play in.

I get very frustrated when I see green areas on housing estates that say "No playing" or whatever. I can understand that some residents might find it annoying, but what are children in built up areas supposed to do? They need to be able to explore and make up their own games instead of sitting in front of the TV all the time.

'The Royals' can make a difference - Diana changed the attitude to Aids/HIV sufferers and became the hero of homosexuals. For that one thing alone she deserves to be honoured.

Valid point