With the summer holidays here and many parents planning how to keep their children entertained during this break, but are there enough free activities?

Despite almost a third of councils revealing that they plan to cut funding for parks and leisure earlier this year - Scotland is currently leading the way for the number of parks per 100 children, miles above the rest of the UK.

Intrigued by this, the experts at Polybound, a Rubber Crumb Flooring analysed gov.uk data to find the total number of parks per local authority. The number of children in the local authorities was sourced from ONS, to eventually find which local authority has the most play parks per 100 children.

Scotland is leading the way, with 6.30 parks per 100 children. This is almost double the number of parks per capita than in the South West (3.37) who rank second.

Scottish local authorities with the most parks

Region	UK ranking	Total parks	Total children under 15	Parks per 100 children
Na h-Eileanan Siar	1	530	3,956	13.40
Shetland Islands	2	425	4,158	10.22
Scottish Borders	3	1,801	18,126	9.94
Dumfries and Galloway	4	2,122	22,096	9.60
East Lothian	5	1,796	20,161	8.91
Highland	6	3,208	37,245	8.61
Orkney Islands	7	292	3,487	8.37
Fife	9	4,836	61,621	7.85
Moray	10	1,209	15,647	7.73
Perth and Kinross	11	1,845	23,979	7.69

Na h-Eileanan Siar has the most parks per 100 children under the age of 15, with a staggering 13.40. This is the highest number in the UK, largely due to their smaller population. However, despite having just a 13% larger child population (3,956) than that of the Orkney Islands (3,487), Na h-Eileanan Siar has almost double the number of parks in comparison (292).

Shetland Islands rank second, with 10.22 parks per 100 children under the age of 15. According to ONS population data, there are currently 4,158 children living in the Shetland Islands, and 425 parks, placing them second in the UK overall.

Scottish Borders rank third, with 9.94 parks per 100 children living there. According to gov.scot data, Scottish Borders will receive £352,000 to renew their play parks between 2024-2025, with an additional £586,000 coming in 2025-2026 - as part of the government's plan to invest £50 million to renew play parks in the country.

About Polybound

Polybound is a leading UK supplier for all your resin-bound and resin-bonded surface needs, plus rubber mulch and chippings, wall coverings, stone carpets, and all the tools and equipment you need for those installations.