Local Football Facility Plan Bassetlaw

Bassetlaw is in Nottinghamshire.

The current population (ONS 2017 Mid-Year Estimate) of the Authority is 116,304. This is expected to rise to 121,522 by 2039.

Bassetlaw is ranked 13th most deprived out of the 40 LAs in the region, and 114th out of 326 LAs nationally on the Indices of Multiple Deprivation (ONS).

Bassetlaw's ethnic composition is primarily classed as White (97.37%). This is higher than the national average (85.4%).

The proportion of Bassetlaw's population represented by the BAME community is 2.63%. This is below the national average (14.6%)

The proportion of Bassetlaw's population classed as inactive (33%) is above both the national (26%) and regional (27%) average.

Local authority

Bassetlaw District's Council Plan (2017-2020) focuses on the three themes of Driving Efficiency & Resilience, Supporting Business & Growth and Enhancing Home & Place. Over the past decade the Council has reduced in size by one third in response to the need to make public sector savings. The Council Plan highlights a further £2 million reduction in government grant income over the next three financial years to 2019/20. It states that it has a 'relatively sound financial position, but there is an acute squeeze on capital investment.' This is likely to influence the extent to which the District Council can maintain and invest in local football facilities.

The Authority Playing Pitch Strategy is being finalised and progressed for adoption in 2019. This LFFP is being produced concurrently so as to ensure that the two align. The key findings and stated overarching priorities are to develop additional full-sized (11v11) 3G FTP provision, improve quality at poor or standard quality sites, reconfigure pitches where required to reduce future shortfalls and develop access to better quality toilet and changing provision at unserviced sites where needed.

The Council is also presently updating its Open Space Study.

County football association

Bassetlaw is covered by both Nottingham County FA and Sheffield & Hallamshire County FA. They provide governance for, and development support to, all aspects of local football including coaches, referees, volunteers, clubs and leagues; supporting football for all. The County FAs have designated facilities investment lead officers who work 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 offer a variety of programmes and services to support local communities (sporting and non-sporting). There is no active CCO in Bassetlaw.

Local leisure operator

Barnsley Premier Leisure (BPL) is the key leisure operator in Bassetlaw. As well as running the District Council's leisure centre portfolio, it currently provides community use of football facilities at the following five PFI Academy sites:

• Outwood Academy Grange (Worksop Leisure Centre) - full-sized, sand-based artificial grass pitch plus four grass football pitches
• Outwood Academy Portland - full-sized sand-based artificial grass pitch, four grass football pitches
• Retford Oaks Academy - full-sized sand-based artificial grass pitch, one grass football pitch
• Tuxford Academy - full-sized sand-based artificial grass pitch
• The Elizabethan Academy - full-sized sand-based artificial grass pitch, two grass football pitches.

Local consultation

This has taken place with a broad and diverse set of community groups in Bassetlaw. A total of 16 individuals (representing 16 local organisations) were spoken to. Agencies consulted include:

• Barnsley Premier Leisure
• Worksop College
• Bircotes & Harworth Parish Council
• Retford Oaks Academy
• Retford Juniors FC

(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. Bassetlaw has a total of 157 teams, which is comparable 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 Bassetlaw, seven clubs have more than 10 registered teams. These (based upon 2017-18 affiliation data) are:

• Worksop Town – 23 teams
• Retford United - 20 teams
• Worksop Boys Club JFC – 17 teams
• Harworth Colliery – 14 teams
• Bawtry Town - 13 teams
• Babworth Rovers Youth - 11 teams
• Retford FC (with Retford FC Juniors) - 10 teams

Leagues

Fourteen leagues take in Bassetlaw teams. They offer competitive opportunities for many different players, including women and girls, disability, youth and adults. While there is no specific league opportunity for disability football within Bassetlaw, suitable provision is made in Nottingham where the Want 2 Play Central League is based and Long Eaton where the East Midlands Pan Central League operates.

Bassetlaw's largest local leagues (2017-18) include:

• Young Elizabethan League (YEL) Saturday – 627 teams – home and away
• Young Elizabethan League (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
• Worksop Sunday League – 18 teams – home and away

The County FAs report some cross boundary migration to/from Bassetlaw primarily due to teams migrating outwards to play in Lincolnshire and Sheffield based 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 Bassetlaw there are no football teams / sessions specifically for people with a disability. It is a priority of the County FA to grow this provision. For talented 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. Bassetlaw presently has no FA Wildcats girls football centres and the priority is to grow this activity.

At 12, Bassetlaw’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’ league is the Nottinghamshire Girls and Ladies League in which matches are played on a home and away basis. It is expected to grow its provision in future years. The local adult female league is the Nottinghamshire Girls and Ladies League which also plays on a home and away basis. It too is expected to grow its provision in future years.

For talented players, the two most local FA regional talent club (RTCs) are Nottingham Forest RTC located in Basford and Doncaster Belles which is located in Doncaster. 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.

Key local providers include

• Outwood Academy Valley (Leisure Leagues)
• North Notts Community Arena (Leisure Leagues)

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 Bassetlaw. It is a priority for the County FA to grow Futsal 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 Bassetlaw. The Council's Active Communities team supports the delivery of walking football sessions twice weekly; every Thursday at The Elizabethan Academy (Retford) and every Monday at Outwood Academy Valley (Worksop Leisure Centre) for an hour each time. The Council works in conjunction with Bassetlaw Seniors Walking Football to help deliver and grow walking football in the District and considers it important with regard to promoting physical activity and health amongst the older population. Furthermore, the Council's Active Communities team has in July 2019 recently launched a women's walking football session on Monday evenings using the sand based artificial grass pitch at Outwood Academy Valley (Worksop Leisure Centre). Walking football and Just Play are prioritised by the County FA for further growth.

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).

The key strengths of local football in Bassetlaw include a good size club offering for male, female, adult and youth provision and it is recommended that this is sustained and also encouraged to grow further. However, gaps in provision do exist, these include recreational football, walking football, wildcat centres and disability football.

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

1. Walking Football
2. Futsal Development
3. Growth and access to Wildcat Centres
4. Disability opportunities and provision

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

Additionally, 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 Bassetlaw. 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.

Bassetlaw's PPS which is production (to be adopted in 2019) will provide an up to date evidence base. PPS research and analysis conducted to date indicates that there is a shortfall of three full-sized (11v11) 3G FTPs.

There is presently no full-sized 3G FTP in Bassetlaw and there is just one small sided 3G FTP (60x38m) at Bircotes & Harworth Sports & Social Club.

There are no small-sided 3G FTP centres in Bassetlaw. The nearest is Goals Soccer Centre in Doncaster. This has ten 5v5 3G FTPs.

The one small sided pitch is located in the north west of the Authority area close to the border with Doncaster. There are, self-evidently, provision gaps in the Worksop and Retford areas and there is also a need for provision to service the Authority's rural areas - as defined within the PPS.

Local consultation confirms that clubs/teams have to travel to neighbouring districts to play on 3G.

The steering group determined that whilst the existing small-sided 3G FTP at Bircotes & Harworth Sports & Social Club is presently sufficient to cater for the level of demand in the Harworth area identified within the PPS, almost all of which demand derives from the club based onsite, aspirations for an 11v11 3G FTP could be reconsidered in future in light of housing growth planned in the area and anticipated growth in team demand. This includes teams within the catchment area in nearby border areas of neighbouring Doncaster and Rotherham.

Three priority projects for potential investment have been identified. Each was selected by local partners based upon the need for provision to service the key population areas in the district.

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 quality 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.

In many local areas the key challenge is to create a sustainable approach to provide good quality football pitches for the long term. Many local authorities (78%) intend to increase pitch hire fees in the future. However, many 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.

There are currently 12 grass pitch sites in Bassetlaw with three or more full-size pitch equivalents (or with fewer than three but deemed to be of strategic importance). These contain 39 grass pitches. Of these sites, none are considered to have good quality pitches, seven are of standard quality and five of poor quality.

Of the 12 key pitch sites referenced above, nine are prioritised for improvements; affecting a total of 29 pitches.

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

Nine priority projects for potential investment are identified. Pitch quality rating was evidenced by PPS site assessments. Prioritisation was informed by local partners with the rationale of selecting sites twith the most pitches that were best utilised.

Of the 12 key grass pitch sites in Bassetlaw with three or more full-size pitch equivalents (or with fewer than three but deemed to be of strategic importance) nine have suitable changing rooms, one requires improvement and one has no facilities and needs a new changing room.

27 Acre Field does not have onsite changing or toilet facilities but is used by just two teams (one male adult, one U13 boys). The site is underutilised and has just two 11v11 pitches marked at present, however it could if optimally utilised, accommodate as many as seven 11v11 size pitches. Should demand increase for use of this site in future, there may be a need for further investment in changing pavilion provision.

There are opportunities for possible multi-sport development of existing playing field sites as hubs identified within the PPS, including at East Retford Rugby Union Football Club and Worksop Rugby Union Football Club. Both of these operators through consultation as part of the PPS have expressed aspirations to explore multi-sport presence onsite including football. Should football pitch provision be developed/reinstated at these sites and football presence be secured, there may be future opportunity to explore investment into the development and improvement of changing pavilion/clubhouse facilities dependent on the level and type of football use.

One priority project for potential investment is 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 that one indoor facility requires improvement to develop small sided football. This is North Notts Community Arena where 7v7 football leagues are operated by Leisure Leagues. The centre hosts indoor walking cricket and there may be an opportunity to be explored to run walking football given improved quality provision.

Indoor small sided football leagues are also based in Worksop in the sports hall at Outwood Academy Portland, whilst walking football takes place indoors at Worksop Leisure Centre and The Elizabethan Academy in Retford.

Local consultation reveals that no MUGAs are required to develop small sided football.

One location is identified to support small sided informal football. Here, the rationale is based on popular local parks and open green spaces with suitable space / areas to increase informal football:

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

• Business Development Manager - Nottinghamshire FA
• Facilities & Investment Manager - Sheffield & Hallamshire FA
• Engagement Manager - Football Foundation
• Planning Manager - Sport England
• Leisure & Cultural Services Manager - Bassetlaw District Council
• Parks Development Officer - Bassetlaw District Council
• Strategic Director - Active Partners Trust
• Place Lead - Active Partners Trust
• COO/Deputy CEO - Nottingham Forest Community Trust
• Activity Manager - Notts County FC Football in the Community
• Barnsley Premier Leisure (BPL)
• Worksop Leisure Centre/Outwood Valley Academy
• Outwood Academy Portland
• Tuxford Academy
• The Elizabethan Academy
• Retford Oaks Academy
• Worksop College
• Bawtry JFC
• Blyth Bombers JFC
• Worksop Town FC
• Retford FC
• Retford Juniors FC
• Misterton United Juniors FC
• Carlton-in-Lindrick Parish Council
• Harworth and Bircotes Parish Council
• Tuxford Parish Council