Officials made the claim at a conference hosted by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (ROSPA) at Loughborough University.

Society members claim that some facilities are now too tame and do not offer enough stimulation.

They fear, as a result, children will be more likely to go off and play in dangerous places such as railway lines.

David Yearly, play safety manager for ROSPA, said: "We don't want dangerous equipment which children could fall off and kill themselves.

"However, we would rather they fell off a high climbing frame than a large garage roof because that is where they're clearly trying to get their climbing experience from."