Children's Play Areas Funding under Threat

I am a grandfather with 7 grandchildren. I’m a retired computer manager.
I’m not a member of any political party or pressure group.

The idea of my gov.e-petition came from seeing several reports in the media about the cuts in budgets Local Authorities were having to make and that some Local Authorities are considering cuts to their budgets for children’s play area's maintenance and renewal as this was seen as a lower priority than other key services provision.
In one TV news bulletin I saw the story about cuts to play areas funding and a later report about the amounts of money Professional Football Clubs have at their disposal, to a large extent from TV deals such as the recent BT deal.

It struct me that the huge sums which seem available to the top Professional Football Clubs could contribute to the funding of all our children’s childhoods and their enjoyment of the play areas provided by Local Authorities across the country.

I believe passionately that all children have a right to enjoy their childhood and that we as a society must ensure that our children are enabled by the provision of safe and happy places to play. The play areas in our parks, gardens and other public areas are fundamental to all families and for many children can provide the only opportunities they have to enjoy life.

The Professional football clubs do assist with their help to youth teams, but this is much more than that.
This is about those millions of pounds contributing to all children from the earliest of years and in all communities.
So what would be in it for the football clubs?
I would say that the health and fitness of our children is fundamental to them growing into healthy and fit people who may one day even turn out to be football players.

I have never started an e-petition before and it seemed a good way of enabling people, especially parents and grandparents, to stand up for children.
The number of signatures required is quite daunting so I very much hope that everyone who believes that a levy on the super rich world of Professional Football to help our children, is a good idea, will both sign the petition and circulate the link around their families, friends and contacts in the hope that we can achieve the numbers needed to get the government to take up the idea.

At the moment it seems to be gaining support all around the country as can be seen on the map on the web site.
This is the link to the petition -
petition.parliament.uk/petitions/185162