In 2006 the Big Lottery Launched the Child’s Play Programme as part of the Healthy Families strand. This put an investment of £13million into Children’s Play in Wales. The programme was a two round programme with the first round being for infrastructure development, which resulted in the Branching Out Project.

The Branching Out project is the infrastructure project funded by the Big Lottery to further develop play infrastructure. This project ensures that the play association has representation on all the key groups and partnerships. It is responsible for the establishment and hosting of Play networks within both RCT and Bridgend. The project acts as a hub for the play sector across RCT and Bridgend to support the delivery of quality play opportunities. Currently the Branching Out project is working closely with both Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council and Bridgend County Borough Council to develop play Strategies, we have also recently undertaken an audit of play provision to identify where there are gaps and what the priorities should be for each area.