Local Football Facility Plan Ashfield

Ashfield is in the East Midlands region.

The current population of the authority (ONS 2017 Mid-Year Estimate) is 126,164. This is expected to rise to 141,119 by 2039.

Ashfield is ranked 8th out of 40 LAs in the region, and 68th out of 326 LAs nationally on the Indices of Multiple Deprivation (ONS)

Ashfield's ethnic composition is primarily white 97.69%. This is higher than the national average (85.4%).

The proportion of Ashfield’s population represented by the BAME community is 2.31%. This is below the national average (14.6%)

Local authority

The Active Ashfield Lifestyle Strategy (2017-2021) has the stated aim "to improve the health, wellbeing and quality of life for local residents in Ashfield by increasing levels of participation in inclusive, healthy lifestyle opportunities using a targeted approach to impact on places and people of greatest need inline with relevant local insight".

The Authority Playing Pitch Strategy was finalised in 2017. The key findings and stated overarching priorities are to improve the quality of grass pitches at key strategic sites across the District and to increase the stock of full size 3G FTPs.

County football association

Ashfield is covered by Nottinghamshire County FA. It provides governance for, and development support to, all aspects of local football including coaches, referees, volunteers, clubs and leagues; supporting football for all. It has a designated facilities investment lead officer who works to ensure the right facilities are located in the right locations.

Football Foundation

The Regional Engagement Manager and Regional Technical Project Manager at the Football Foundation work collaboratively with the County FA to provide pre-application support to priority projects for potential investment.

Sport England

Has a network of planning managers who have a statutory role in the planning system to protect playing fields and provide consultation responses to planning applications relating to sporting facilities . They also play a key role in strategic planning for sports facilities, providing advice and support to local authorities to assess need for facilities in their local area.

Professional community club organisations (CCOs)

These continue to expand and enhance their range of community delivery, offering a variety of programmes and services to support local communities (sporting and non-sporting). The Nottingham Forest Community Trust runs a variety of health, education, engagement, football and sporting activities in the local area.

Local leisure operator

Everyone Active is the key leisure operator in Ashfield. It runs four leisure centres in the District, however none of these have a substantial football offering.

Local consultation

This has taken place with a broad and diverse set of community groups in Ashfield. Nine individuals (representing nine local organisations) were spoken to. Agencies consulted include:

• Rolls Royce Leisure FC
• Everyone Active
• Kickstart Youth League

(See Appendix B for full list of consultees)

Clubs

There are over 91,000 community football teams in England, spread over an expansive network of clubs and leagues. Ashfield has a total of 182 teams, which is higher to local areas of a similar size.

The FA is investing to support clubs both on and off the pitch which includes an aim to have a qualified FA coach with every youth team by 2020/21. In addition, it will support 1,000 clubs to create full player pathways from youth to adult teams and develop 150 community football hubs with male and female pathways, disability and recreational playing opportunities.

Over the last 10-years there has been a significant national increase in the number of large multi-team football clubs. In Ashfield, eight clubs have more than 10 registered teams. These (based upon 2017-18 affiliation data) are:

• Rolls Royce Leisure - 34 teams
• Beaufort United - 15 teams
• Quarrydale United- 14 teams
• Hucknall Sports Youth- 13 teams
• Mansfield Hoisery Mills - 13 teams
• Teversal Youth - 12 teams
• Selston Youth - 10 teams
• Underwood Villa Youth - 10 teams

Leagues

Twenty leagues operate in Ashfield. They offer competitive opportunities for many different players, including women and girls, youth and adults. While there are no specific league opportunities for disability football within Ashfield, there is suitable provision in neighbouring authorities Nottingham and Erewash which cater for disability demand in Ashfield.

Ashfield largest local leagues (2017-18) include:

• YEL Saturday – 627 teams– home and away
• YEL Sunday – 406 teams– home and away
• Nottinghamshire Girls and Ladies Football League– 154 teams– home and away
• Notts Youth Football League Saturday– 147 teams– home and away
• Notts Youth Football League Sunday– 98 teams– home and away
• Kickstart Youth Football League – 88 teams– central venue

The County FA reports some cross boundary migration to/from Ashfield due to teams migrating inwards to play in the Kickstart Youth League and outwards to play in a number of Derbyshire Leagues.

Disability football

There are 9.4 million people in England with a long-standing limiting disability, illness or condition which equates to 18% of the population – almost one in five. Football playing opportunities should be flexible, inclusive and accessible for everyone, whatever their level of ability. This could entail inclusion in mainstream activity or teams / sessions specifically for people with a disability.

In Ashfield three football teams cater specifically for people with a disability. It is a priority of the County FA to sustain this provision. For talented disabled players the FA runs regional centres and England national squads.

Women and girls

The FA has big ambitions for the female game and aims to double levels of participation by 2020. To achieve this requires a combined effort across four pathways: education, recreation, competition and talent.

Education environments have a huge impact on the first experience of football for young girls. This pathway can offer many opportunities for females of all ages to develop and grow a lifelong interest in football.

FA Wildcats girls football centres provide the first step on the recreational pathway, the programme provides girls aged 5-11 with regular opportunities to play football in a fun and engaging environment. Ashfield has no FA Wildcats girls football centres and the priority is to grow this activity.

At six, Ashfield’s number of female teams is lower than local areas of a similar size. The County FA’s priority is to support existing clubs to grow and encourage more clubs to develop playing opportunities for females. The local girls’ and ladies league is the Nottinghamshire Girls and Ladies League in which matches are played on a home and away basis. It is expected to sustain its provision in future years.

For talented players, the most local FA Regional Talent Club (RTC) is Ashfield which is located in Basford (Nottingham). Higher level talent pathway opportunities are also provided regionally and nationally by the FA, culminating in the England Women’s national squads. The nearest Women’s Super League team is Birmingham City Ladies which provides player pathway opportunities for gifted and talented female players and a spectator interest for fans.

Small sided football

Many different types of small-sided football are played in England, from teams and leagues to recreational and informal. It is an established and important part of the modern game.

Small-sided teams and leagues are organised and competitive activities; typically with players registered to clubs and affiliated to leagues and their county FAs. Examples include Futsal and local small-sided leagues running at venues such as sports halls, 3G FTPs or small-sided 3G centres.

At present, there are no affiliated small sided football leagues in Ashfield.

Futsal is an exciting, fast-paced, small sided team game that is widely played across the world. Typically it is played on an indoor surface with hockey-sized goals and a size 4 football with reduced ball bounce. It is the FA’s aim to ensure Futsal is available across the country.

There are currently no futsal teams in Ashfield. It is a priority for the County FA to grow this provision for all players.

Recreational football

Recreational football is played where facilities are typically booked and there might be someone to help organise. Examples include FA Just Play sessions, walking football and casual pitch hire for small-sided match play.

There are currently no FA Just Play Centres in Ashfield. Walking football sessions are delivered by a range of community organisation such as the Football Jerry Hatricks and Hucknall Leisure Centre. Walking football and Just Play are programmes that the County FA has prioritised for further growth. Other local recreational football opportunity includes turn up and play disability sessions which are delivered by a range of organisations including Nottingham Forest Community Trust.

Informal football

Informal football is played in local parks and green spaces – it is free, open access and often played spontaneously (normal clothing is worn). Common examples include a kick-about at a local park or on a multi-use games area (MUGA).

Currently, informal football in Ashfield is played particularly in the north and south east of the authority. Sites popular for informal football include Sutton Lawns and Titchfield Park.

The key strengths of local football in Ashfield include number of mini soccer teams which coincides with the central venue league in the area. However, gaps in provision do exist and there are aspects of football provision that are lower than local authorities of a similar size, these include the recreational game, walking football and female provision.

It is therefore recommended that the future football development priorities for Ashfield are:

1.Walking Football opportunity

2.Futsal development

3.Increase the accessibility and opportunities for girls within the Wildcat programme

4.Training facilities to allow for the increasing demand within the mini soccer and youth game

The facilities required to assist this are now set out in the Assets and opportunities section.

Each priority project that progresses to a funding application via the Football Foundation will produce a detailed ‘site development plan’ specifying all football development activity, usage and key partner engagement.

This section reviews existing football facility assets in Ashfield. It identifies current issues and presents opportunities for improvements, including a list of priority projects for potential investment.

Local assets and opportunities have been reviewed in line with four investment priorities:

• 3G FTPs
• Improved grass pitches
• Changing room pavilions / clubhouses
• Small sided facilities

To ensure a consistent and high quality approach, each local area has been reviewed applying a standard approach, supplemented by input from consultation with local partners and stakeholder organisations.

While each investment priority is reviewed individually, it is understood that they can be inter-reliant; account is, thus, taken of these potential connections.

3G FTPs are a high quality and indispensable part of modern football facilities; their impact cannot be underestimated. In recent years the industry has seen major innovations and improvements to artificial surfaces (and sports lighting). This has created playing surfaces that replicate a good standard natural turf pitch whilst significantly increasing levels of use (x20). All FTPs must have sports lighting to achieve this.

The high quality, consistent playing surface is the ideal environment to play the game and for young people to learn. With regular maintenance programmes, FTPs can be heavily used all year round with no decline in quality. They almost completely negate annoying fixture cancellations during winter months, helping football to be a key part of a regular physical activity habit.

High capacity levels offer a great opportunity to embrace all formats and engage all participants. A full-sized 3G caters for an average of 1,200 participants per week and is suitable for various location types. That means being fully inclusive to all sections of the community, with a particular focus on under-represented groups such as women and girls, people with a disability, BAME communities and people from lower socio-economic groups.

The way 3G FTPs are used is rapidly changing; current line-marking systems allow for match play across all formats of football (5v5, 7v7, 9v9 and 11v11). This enables significant levels of match-play to be transferred from grass to 3G.

There is one existing full-sized (11v11) 3G FTP in Ashfield located at Sutton Community Academy.

In addition, there are three small sided 3G FTPs in Ashfield located at:

• Ashfield Comprehensive
• Rolls Royce Fitness Centre
• The Summit Centre

The Ashfield PPS was undertaken in 2017. It indicates a shortfall of three full-sized 3G FTPs. The FA training model (1:38) also indicates a shortfall of three full size FTPs in the Authority (based on 2017/18 season affiliation data).

The full-sized 3G FTP at Sutton Community Academy is on the FA Register for 3G FTPs (meaning it is quality checked and can be used for football match play).

The geographic spread of existing facilities is uneven; the pitch at Sutton Community Academy is located in the North of the local area and there are provision gaps in the Central and South West despite both high levels of population and high levels of deprivation.

Local consultation reveals common issues with low availability and travel times and it is recommended that these are addressed.

Seven priority projects (across six sites) are identified for potential investment. Of these, four are full-sized 3G FTPs (including the refurbishment of an existing pitch) and three are for small sided 3G pitches. Each was selected based upon a rationale of good access, high population, geographic spread and existing facility quality.

Two projects have been identified for the Hucknall area, one of which is a full-sized 3G FTP to service football demand. The two sites which are options for this development are; Rolls Royce Leisure FC OR Holgate Academy. Both can make a strong case for project delivery and, as a consequence, further local investigative work is required to determine which site should be preferred.

It is noted that in the north of the Authority, in the Sutton-in-Ashfield area, Quarrydale School is located within 1.5 miles of Sutton Community Academy. It has a disused artificial grass pitch. Should, for whatever reason, Sutton Community Academy not be an option for development of a second full-sized 3G FTP, development of the facility at Quarrydale could be considered as an alternative to meet local football demand. This is not, at this stage, included because the Sutton Community Academy site is considered to be more suitable.

Playing fields are one of the most important resources for sport in England. All football players should have the opportunity to play on good quality grass pitches. However, FA data shows that 63% of pitches in England are poor / low standard and one in six games is cancelled. As such, poor pitch quality is consistently cited as the number one issue for players.

The priority is, therefore, to sustainably improve grass pitch quality across all main pitch owners (local authorities, education establishments and clubs). However, the level of maintenance required to obtain good quality standards is regularly affected by restricted budgets and limited knowledge/ training. Compaction and grass coverage are two key causes of poor quality pitches. Both are commonly treated via a maintenance driven solution (and do not necessarily require costly drainage schemes).

Playing fields are also a valuable resources for informal play and open-access sites are encouraged but, for many, problems such as dog fouling and vandalism mean that they need to be protected with mitigation measures such as fencing.

The key challenge is to create a sustainable approach to provide good quality football pitches for the long-term. Most local authorities (78%) intend to increase pitch hire fees in the future. However, the majority of players (63%) believe facilities are already expensive and some (16%) believe prices are prohibitive. A sustainable solution should, therefore, carefully balance pitch quality and affordability.

While the education sector (37%) and local authorities (32%) are still the principal asset owners of grass pitches, clubs / leagues own or maintain an increasing share (currently 25%). Assets and opportunities have been considered across each sector.

Although large (3+ pitch) strategic sites are important and make up much of the project list within the LFFPs, this does not mean that other club, league and community/voluntary sites are not important or eligible for funding. These sites are key to the Football Foundation's Grass Pitch Programme to deliver 20,000 good quality pitches.

For more information click here.

PitchPower

The PitchPower app is the gateway to any grass pitch improvement funding. It is the tool that will allow clubs and organisations to complete pitch inspections and access funds.

If you haven't signed up and completed a PitchPower pitch inspection, you will need to do this before you can apply for the Grass Pitch Maintenance Fund.

Learn more by clicking here.

Currently nine grass pitch sites in Ashfield have three or more full-size pitch equivalents (or have fewer than three pitches but are deemed to be of strategic importance). These contain 33 grass pitches.

Of the nine key pitch sites referenced, three have been prioritised for improvement encompassing a total of eight pitches.

Local consultation shows common issues with poor quality and it is recommended that this is addressed.

Three priority projects for potential investment are identified. Pitch quality rating was evidenced by PPS and qualified by local partners. Prioritisation was informed by local partners based upon a rationale of selecting sites in the poorest condition and that were the best utilised.

These can provide a number of different benefits. While the primary function is normally the provision of changing rooms to accommodate match-play and training (for players and officials), there can be equal value in facilities such as community and education rooms, catering facilities and spectator toilets.

Each project will take a progressive approach to pavilions and clubhouses (beyond the provision of changing rooms) and be open to new opportunities to engage the whole community. That means, creating environments that are welcoming to players, spectators, volunteers, officials and all sections of the community.

Such assets should support other investment priorities (e.g. 3G FTPs and grass pitches) and be located at sites that will have the greatest impact on local communities. To ensure this, focus is given to sites with three or more full-size pitch equivalents. However, as pitch quality is the number one priority for players this is prioritised before investment in changing room pavilions /clubhouses.

Clearly, facilities need to be well managed and maintained to keep them in a good state of repair. Consideration will be given to reviewing the best operator solution for key sites and the installation of revenue generating features such as catering facilities and community rooms. To achieve this, business plan support will be given to each priority project as it progresses to an application to the Football Foundation.

Of the nine key grass pitch sites in Ashfield with three or more full-size pitch equivalents (or with fewer than three pitches but deemed to be of strategic importance), six have suitable changing rooms, two sites require improvement/replacement and one has no facilities and requires a new changing pavilion.

Three priority projects for potential investment are identified:

Good facilities are important to all small sided football players, but it is important to understand the different formats of the small-sided game and the various facility types they relate to.

Research suggests that small-sided players in teams and leagues, and in recreational sessions, prefer a 3G surface type because it replicates a good standard natural turf pitch. These facilities have already been covered in the 3G FTP section of this LFFP.

Indoor environments currently accommodate 20% of football participation and are also popular with players in teams and leagues and recreational sessions . Indoor sports halls are most popular, along with some community halls and indoor 3G centres. Environments need to be engaging, have clear line-marking and the correct size goalposts.

Informal players require facilities that are open and free to access as this enables play opportunities that are often spontaneous. In these circumstances multi-use games areas (MUGAs) can be effective in areas of high urban population and limited green space. Such facilities can be modern, bright, creative and engaging. While this plan will identify suitable locations for such facilities, the design and specifics of the facility type can be agreed at a later stage with Football Foundation staff when projects are ready to progress to pre-application stage.

Parks and open green spaces are also important to informal play and require goalposts and zones that are free from litter and dog fouling.

Local consultation reveals no indoor facilities that presently require improvement to develop small sided football.

Three potential opportunities for MUGAs are identified. In each case the rationale is based on the site being in an area of high urban population with high proportions of lower social economic groups and corresponding high local demand for informal football:

Following local consultation, no park and open green spaces are presently identified as having a requirement for informal football.

A range of local agencies and larger (usually 10 plus team) local football clubs were invited to participate in the LFFP consultation. Those that contributed are listed below:

• Chairman - Rolls Royce Leisure FC
• Chairman - Teversal FC
• Communities Manager - Everyone Active
• League Secretary - Kickstart Youth League
• Secretary - Mansfield Hoisery Mills FC
• Secretary - Quarrydale United FC
• Secretary - Selston FC
• Secretary - Ashland Rovers FC
• Secretary - Hucknall Sports FC