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Every Welsh local authority “must secure sufficient play opportunities in its area for children”, according to the measure passed by Cardiff’s parliamentarians in 2010. It is, says Mike Barclay, who used to do Roberts’s job in neighbouring Wrexham, “a beautiful piece of legislation”. It encourages councils to ask children what events and activities they want, and to reflect their desires in annual play action plans. It puts every blueprint for a new housing estate or plan for a bypass under scrutiny for how it will affect children’s play. And it gives play officers like Roberts extra ammo when they need cash to organise aquaslides. It makes Wales the first country in the world to take play seriously.

Smaller share of US residents movingAmericans are moving at the lowest rate on record, according to Census Bureau figures.Last year, 11 percent of Americans moved, the lowest annual rate recorded since the government started keeping track in 1948. The highest moving rates were in the late 1940s and 1950s, when about 20 percent of Americans moved each year.Among those who moved, 42 percent cited a housing-related reason, such as the desire for a better home. About 27 percent cited a family reason, and 20 percent said they moved because of a job.“People in the United States are still moving, just not to the same extent as they did in the past,” said David Ihrke, a Census Bureau statistician.