Around half of that Big Lottery Fund cash is being spent on improving six playgrounds across the city and building two new ones. The other half is going towards four outreach projects which take play workers into communities.
Frank O'Malley, business co-ordinator at Leeds Play Network – which manages Leeds City Council's play portfolio, said even when all the cash had been spent, much more would be needed.
"We have to recognise we've still got a long way to go, but it will have been a good first step."
He said the charity would be applying for up to £2.5m from the Government in November on behalf of the council, to build more fixed equipment play areas and hopefully a staffed adventure playground.
Mr O'Malley said: "My view would be that, yes, there's a problem with play provision in Leeds.
"Fixed-equipment playgrounds are only part of what we need to provide for kids.
"The average length of stay in a playground is pretty short and they are massively expensive.
"We are making some progress, and yes, it's nowhere near fast enough.
"One of the things crucially missing in Leeds is a staffed adventure playground.
"If we provided that sort of thing in the way that London boroughs do I would expect to see 12 in Leeds for the number of children in the city."
Roundhay Park is one of the largest parks in Europe, yet its designated play area is fairly small and parents complain it fills up too quickly at weekends and school holidays and children soon get bored.
But Mr O'Malley said the size of the playground wasn't important as the whole park was a great space for youngsters to have fun, with interesting features like the lake and woodland paths.
"I think the park as a whole is a fantastic playground. I would agree that in its context the playground looks a little small, but I don't think it needs to be much bigger."
He said one way to provide children with greater access to play near their homes would be by developing playable spaces – not necessarily with equipment, but by creating areas that could be made attractive for children to play in.
He said that was the next phase of the plan to improve play provision in Leeds.
In Freiberg, Germany, old statues have been reused as climbing objects, to stimulate children's imagination in an inexpensive way.
To create playable spaces within communities the city council must establish exactly which pieces of land it owns. The parks and countryside department was already working its way through the list but it was a complex process.
After that, said Mr O'Malley, they need to find out what they could do, for relatively low cost, that would make that land more attractive for young people to play on.
A consultation process about play opportunities was already under way with youngsters across the city.
And some schools were looking at opening their play areas and facilities for longer, as part of the extended services scheme to improve community access.
Leeds Play Network works closely with the council, applying for play-related grants on its behalf, distributing the cash to various agencies and reporting back to funding organisations on how their money is being spent.
The Leeds outreach projects which benefited from the Big Lottery Fund are already running, while building the playgrounds and improving existing venues is expected to take around 18 months.
Work on the first play area at Hesketh Lane, in the Woodkirk area is just getting started.
debbie.leigh@ypn.co.uk
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