Local Football Facility Plan Boston

Boston is located in the East Midlands region. The current population of the Authority (ONS 2017 Mid-Year Estimate) is 68,488. This is expected to rise to 73,204 by 2039.

Boston is ranked 7 out of 40 LAs in the region, and 67 out of 326 LAs nationally on the Indices of Multiple Deprivation (ONS).

Boston’s ethnic composition is primarily white (96.84%). This is higher than the national average (85.4%).

The proportion of Boston’s population represented by the BAME community is 3.16%. This is below the national average (14.6%).

Local authority

The South East Lincolnshire Local Plan is a joint local plan for South Holland and Boston local authorities and was adopted in 2019. It states that the Council will provide an approach that will seek to ensure that “all sections of the community have access to high quality open space and opportunities for sport and recreation.”

The vision of the Boston Borough Council's Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2017 - 2020 is 'to enable the people of Boston to live longer, be healthier and have a better quality of life.' It focuses on three priorities, one of which is to 'work with partners to encourage healthier lifestyles and behaviours' in residents'. This will be done by improving leisure facilities and green spaces to encourage community use and to provide a broader range of opportunities for adults and children to become more active.

The local authority has no PPS in place.

County football association

Boston is covered by the Lincolnshire 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. The County FA 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.

Active Partnerships

Active Lincolnshire is the Active Partnership for the county of Lincolnshire. Their mission is to get everyone, every day more physically active. They have a remit to support people of all ages and background to improve their health and wellbeing by taking part in regular physical activity supporting Sport England’s Towards an Active Nation strategy.

Professional club community organisations (CCOs)

These offer a variety of programmes and services to support local communities (sporting and non-sporting). Boston United in the Community runs a variety of health, education, engagement, football and sporting activities within the local area.

Local leisure operator

1Life currently operates one key football site in Boston including Princess Royal Sports Arena which has a 5v5 floodlit 3G FTP and an indoor sports hall which supports small sided football.

Local consultation

This has taken place with a broad and diverse set of community groups in Boston. 11 individuals (representing nine local organisations) were spoken to. The agencies consulted include:

• Boston United FC
• Swineshead Institute FC
• Positive Futures

(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. Boston has a total of 81 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 Boston, two clubs have more than 10 registered teams. These (based upon 2017-18 affiliation data) are:

• Boston United Community FC - 18 teams
• JFC Boston - 11 teams

Several leagues operate across Boston however only one league is specific to the Boston area, this is the Boston & District Saturday Football League which totals 46 teams. It offers competitive opportunities for adult male players.

The largest local leagues operating in Boston (2018-19) include:

• Lincoln Co-Op Mid Lincs Youth League - Male & Female provision – 398 teams total with 30 from Boston– home and away / central venue / central venue at multiple sites - all
• Lincolnshire Ability Counts League – 23 teams in total with three from Boston– central venue.
• Peterborough & District Junior Alliance League – 347 teams in total with 30 from Boston– home and away

The County FA reports some cross boundary migration to/from Boston primarily due to teams migrating outwards to play in the Peterborough & District Junior Alliance League.

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 Boston there are three 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. Boston has two FA Wildcats girls football centres and the priority is to sustain this activity.

At six, Boston’s number of female teams is higher 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 Lincoln Co-Op Mid Lincs Youth 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 Lincolnshire Women's County Football League which plays on a home and away basis. It too is expected to grow its provision in future years.

For talented players, the most local FA Regional Talent Club (RTC) is Nottingham Forest Ladies which is located in Nottinghamshire. 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 Leicester City Women FC 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. There is no affiliated small sided provision within Boston.

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 Boston. It is a priority for the County FA to grow Futsal for male, female, youth and adult 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 Boston. Affiliated walking football in Boston has a total of two teams. Walking football and Just Play are areas that the County FA has prioritised for further growth and development. Other local recreational football programmes include pro-club community scheme activity which is delivered by Boston United in the Community.

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 Boston is played across the Borough. Central Park is a key heavily used site.

The key strengths of local football in Boston include Boston & District Saturday Football League and Boston United in the Community provision and it is recommend that this is sustained and also encouraged to grow further. However, gaps in provision do exist, these include FA Just Play Centres and small sided opportunities. It is therefore recommended that the future football development priorities for Boston are:

1. Just Play centres
2. Small sided game opportunities
3. Futsal

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 Boston. 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 currently no full-sized (11v11) 3G FTP in Boston. There is one small sided (5v5) floodlit 3G FTP located at Princess Royal Sports Arena.

As noted above, there is no current PPS and, therefore, demand for full sized 3G FTPs has been calculated using the FA training ratio model 1:38. On the basis that there are 81 teams in Boston, there is deemed to be a requirement for two full size 3G FTPs.

Also of note is the fact that Boston United FC has a current bid for a full-sized 3G FTP submitted to the Football Foundation. Assuming that this is successful and goes ahead, the shortfall in the area will reduce to one full sized 3G FTP.

Two priority project for potential investment is, therefore, identified. The proposed location of a second 3G FTP (in the north of the Authority) has been selected based upon the fact that Boston United's pitch will, if the application goes forward, be in the south. The project venue cited in this plan thus has the capacity to serve a local area with a substantial discrete catchment population and significant football club demand.

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.

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.

There are currently eight grass pitch sites in Boston with three or more full-size pitch equivalents (or with fewer than three pitches but deemed to be of strategic importance). These contain 27 grass pitches.

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

Of the eight key pitch sites referenced above it was determined that seven should be prioritised for improvements. This will result in quality improvements to 22 pitches:

Seven priority projects for potential investment are identified. Prioritisation was informed by local partners based upon a rationale of selecting sites in the poorest condition that are currently/potentially well-utilised which reflect the strategic focus to improve football participation.

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 eight key grass pitch sites in Boston with three or more full-size pitch equivalents (or with fewer than three pitches but of strategic importance), four have suitable changing rooms, three require improvement/replacement and one has no facilities and requires a new changing room.

In addition, new changing facilities will be required as part of the proposed 3G FTP developed as part of Boston United FC proposals.n New changing facilities may also be required if a new 3G FTP is developed to the north of Boston (depending on the site selected).

Six 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 that there are no indoor facilities that require improvement to develop small sided football.

Two potential opportunities for MUGAs have been identified. In each case the rationale is based on the site being in an urban populated area witha relatively high proportion of people from lower social economic groups and corresponding local demand for informal football.

Despite the projects being in relative close proximity to one another given the rural nature of the borough, the sites proposed are in areas where they offer the best opportunity to cater for a substantial local population and/or where existing facilities could be enhanced to support informal and recreational football.

Boston Borough Council are installing a new MUGA at Garfitts Lane in Summer 2019.

Following local consultation, and assisted by the Sport England green spaces mapping tool, two locations have been identified to support small sided informal football.

They are in relatively close proximity to one another because the rural nature of the Borough means that sites serving a reasonable population catchment tend to be located in main settlements where there is suitable space / areas to take the opportunity to increase provision 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:

• Boston United FC - Community Manager
• Swineshead Institute FC - Secretary
• Wyberton Colts JFC - Secretary
• Lincolnshire CVS - Senior Area Officer
• Active Lincolnshire - Project Delivery Officer
• Boston Borough Council - Head of Place and Space
• Boston Borough Council - Play and Physical Activity Officer
• Old Leake Parish Council - Chairman
• Boston College FC - Secretary
• Positive Futures - Community Sports Worker (x2)