Local Football Facility Plan Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole

Full report

Introduction
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole
Assets and opportunities
3G football turf pitches (FTPs)
Improved grass pitches
Changing room pavilions / clubhouses
Small sided facilities
Appendix A: Priority project list
Appendix B: Consultation list

Introduction

This is the Local Football Facility Plan (LFFP) for Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole. It was prepared by Knight, Kavanagh and Page (KKP) with support from local partners, including:

BCP (Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole) Local Authority
Sport England
Hampshire County FA
Dorset County FA
Football Foundation
Active Dorset
AFC Bournemouth Community Sports Trust

What is the goal?

Every local area in the Country will have a LFFP to enable investment in football facilities to be accurately targeted.

Who is behind this?

The Football Association, the Premier League and Sport England (on behalf of Government). This partnership finances the National Football Facility Strategy (NFFS) and commissions the Football Foundation to deliver it.

What is the purpose of this plan?

The national funding partners have significantly increased investment to accelerate efforts to deliver more and better football facilities for the grassroots game. The purpose of this plan is to identify the priority projects for potential investment in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole .

Why invest in football facilities?

As the nation’s most popular team sport, football has the power to contribute positively to vital social outcomes and health priorities. To maximise this power, facilities have to be welcoming environments to attract first-time users and repeat visits, whether for informal, recreational or competitive football.

Research clearly and continually demonstrates the positive impact high-quality football facilities, in the right locations, can have on participation and enjoyment. Latent demand exists, but facility quantity and quality has to ‘step up’ if football is to reach out to everyone.

How are we going to do it?

£1.3billion has been spent by football and Government since 2000 to enhance existing football facilities and build new ones. However, more is needed if football and Government’s shared objectives for participation, individual well-being and community cohesion are to be achieved.

Nationally, direct investment will be increased – initially to £69 million per annum from football and Government (a 15% increase on recent years). Locally, the work has already started - this LFFP will guide the allocation of 90% of national funds and forge stronger partnerships with local stakeholders to develop key sites. This, together with local match-funding will deliver over one billion pounds of investment into football facilities over the next 10-years.

What are the priorities for investment?

This LFFP, with guidance from local partners, has developed a list of high level projects for potential investment. Each is aligned to the investment priorities set out in the National Football Facilities Strategy, which include:

1,000 new 3G football turf pitches (FTPs): in a mix of sizes and settings, dependent upon local needs. All aimed at enhancing the quality of the playing experience.
20,000 improved natural-turf pitches: to help address drop-off due to a poor playing experience.
1,000 new changing pavilions / clubhouses: all linked to priority sites.
Small-sided facilities: to grow the small-sided game for teams & leagues, recreational and informal play.

What outcomes will be achieved?

The priority projects for potential investment identified in this plan will help develop a sustainable network of quality facilities to drive participation across all parts of the game. Central to this are five key success factors: quality, inclusivity, sustainability, engagement and usage. Each identified project takes account of these factors.

The project list sets out all priority projects for potential investment. Each is scored against two principal factors: deliverability and the five key outcomes (as stated above).

The list will be used flexibly; project ‘rating’ does not determine the exact order in which it will progress to a funding application to the Football Foundation, as many factors influence this. The process for moving a project from this list and into the ‘pre-application stage’ will be managed by the Football Foundation.

How should this plan be used?

This LFFP will, in effect, be the go-to document for football facility investment in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole.

Whilst it identifies priority projects for potential investment, it does not guarantee the success of future funding applications. Each project must still follow an application process to show how it will deliver key participation outcomes, become a quality and sustainable facility and demonstrate suitable match-funding.

When a project is in a position to proceed, the Football Foundation will determine a suitable timeframe to submit a grant application and pre-application support will be provided by either the Hampshire or the Dorset County FA and the Football Foundation.

How should this plan NOT be used?

A LFFP is an investment portfolio of priority projects for potential investment - it is not a detailed demand and supply analysis of all pitch provision in a local area. It cannot be used as a replacement for a playing pitch strategy (PPS) and it will not be accepted as an evidence base for site change of use or disposal.

A LFFP will however build on available/existing local evidence and strategic plans and may adopt relevant actions from a PPS and/or complement these with additional investment priorities.

Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole

Local area

The Authority of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) is in the South Region.

The current population of the Authority (ONS 2017 Mid-Year Estimate) is 395, 784. This is expected to rise to 438, 556 by 2039.

BCP is ranked 14 out of 30 LAs in the region, and 166 out of 317 LAs nationally on the Indices of Multiple Deprivation (ONS).

Its ethnic composition is primarily white (94.2%). This is considerably higher than the national average (85.4%).

The proportion of BCP’s population represented by the BAME community is 5.8%. This is substantially below the national average (14.6%).

Demographics

395,784 Current population (2017)
438,556 Projected population (2039)

14th most deprived out of 30 local authorities in the region
166th most deprived out of 317 local authorities in England

Ethnicity data

Asian (2.86%)
Black (0.62%)
Mixed (1.75%)
Other (0.57%)
White (94.2%)

22%

25%

% of people that are inactive

Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole
Region
England

*ONS data and Sport England Active Lives Survey 2018/19

Local partners

Local Authority

BCP is in its infancy as a new authority (following the merger of the separate authorities of: Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole). It is currently in the consulting phase for its Local Plan. As part of the consultation process, BCP will be seeking opinions on how it can ensure that all residents live fulfilled, healthy lives and ensuring community facilities are easily accessible for everyone.

The key findings and stated overarching priorities set out in the BCP (draft) Playing Pitch Strategy (2019) include the need to address the shortfall of five 3G football turf pitches (FTPs). This breaks down as one in Bournemouth, one in Poole and two in Christchurch with a fifth located either in Bournemouth or in Poole if/when demand is demonstrated following delivery of the two proposed 3G FTPs.

County football association

Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole is covered by the Dorset and Hampshire County FAs. 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 FAs to provide pre-application support to priority projects for potential investment.

Football Foundation Investment

£2,416,488 Total project cost
£1,702,725 Total grant value
12 Sites improved
2 New 3G FTPs
3 Changing rooms / pavilions
12 Grass pitches improved

See Football foundation website for more info (http://www.footballfoundation.org.uk/impact/where-our-money-goes)

Grant data above represents Football Foundation investment during the period 2000 - 2018.

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). AFC Bournemouth Community Sports Trust delivers a variety of health, education, engagement, football and sporting activities in the local area. Its current priority is to develop its own site, with a 3G FTP, to allow it to centralise delivery. The Trust is currently looking at several options in the local area in partnership with the Hampshire County FA.

Local leisure operator

There are four local leisure operators in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole . BH Live, Everyone Active, YMCA and Two Riversmeet LC which is run in house. The operators and the facilities they manage can be broken down into the following:

BH Live runs six sites including, Littledown Leisure Centre, Pelhams Leisure Centre and the Sir David English Sports Centre at which there are three 5v5 3G FTPs available to the community in the evenings and at weekends.
Everyone Active operate three facilities in Poole, these are the Leisure Centres of Rossmore, Ashdown and Poole.
YMCA manage two sites, the Junction in Broadstone and Lifewise Gym & Sports Hall in Bournemouth
Two Riversmeet Leisure Centre is run in house by the Local Authority

Local consultation

This has taken place with a broad and diverse set of community groups in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole . 20 individuals (representing 20 local organisations) were spoken to. The agencies consulted include:

BCP Local Authority
Active Dorset
A range of football clubs

(See Appendix B for full list of consultees)

Local football

Clubs

There are over 91,000 community football teams in England, spread over an expansive network of clubs and leagues. Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole has a total of 539 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 ten years there has been a significant national increase in the number of large multi-team football clubs. In Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, 16 clubs have more than 10 registered teams. These are:

Poole Town Wessex FC - 30
Poole Town Youth - 12
AFC Bournemouth CST -27
Longfleet Youth- 27
Broadstone- 25
Dexter Sports Youth- 24
Bournemouth Electric - 11
Bournemouth Sports- 25
Lilliput - 13 teams
Bournemouth Youth Poppies- 10
Burton Youth - 10
Christchurch- 15
Greenfields- 18
Highcliffe Hawks- 13
Moordown and Southbourne- 10
Merley Cobham Sports- 19

Affiliated Teams

206 Adult male teams
26 Adult female teams
80 Youth male teams
20 Youth female teams
26 Disability teams
109 Mini-soccer teams

The FA Whole Game System- season 2018/19

Leagues

The following are the main leagues in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole providing opportunities in youth football, adult male football and women and girls football:

Bournemouth Saturday League – home and away
Bournemouth Sunday League – home and away
Bournemouth Youth League – home and away
New Forest Youth League - home and away/central venue
Dorset League- home and away
Dorset Youth Football League - home and away

Leagues for disability provision are operated on a county basis.

The County FAs report significant cross boundary migration to/from the Authority primarily due to teams playing in Dorset leagues and in the New Forest.

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 Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole there are 26 football teams / sessions specifically for people with a disability. It is a priority of both county FAs 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. The Authority has four FA Wildcats girls football centres and the priority is to grow this activity.

There are 46 female teams from Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole which affiliate to both the Hampshire County FA and the Dorset FA. This is comparable to local areas of a similar size. . The priority of both county FAs is to support existing clubs to grow and encourage more clubs to develop playing opportunities for females.

The main local girls’ leagues in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole are the Hampshire Girls Youth League and the Dorset Girls League in which matches are played on a home and away and central venue basis. It is expected to grow its provision in future years. The local adult female leagues are the Hampshire County Women’s League and the Dorset Women's League in which matches are played on a home and away basis. They are expected to grow their provision in future years.

For talented players, the most local FA Regional Talent Club (RTC) is Southampton which is located in Southampton. Higher level talent pathway opportunities are also provided regionally and nationally by the FA, culminating in the England Women’s national squads. The most local Women’s Super League team is Reading 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:

BH Live Active
Two Riversmeet Leisure Centre.
Carter Community School

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 that futsal is available across the country.

There are currently eight futsal teams in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole affiliated to and playing in the Hampshire County Futsal League or the BUCS League. It is a priority for the County FA to grow futsal for all participants.

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 Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole. Walking football sessions are delivered by a range of community organisation such as AFC Bournemouth Community Sports 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 Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole is played at several key sites, including Redhill Park , Branksome Centre and Seafield Gardens.

Summary

The key strengths of local football in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole include the growth of youth male and senior male elements of the game. It is recommended that this is sustained and encouraged to grow further. However, provision gaps do exist and, to address these, it is recommended that future football development priorities for Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole are to:

Continue to develop and grow the number of disability teams.
Support existing clubs to grow and encourage more opportunities for females.
Establish a Just Play centre for the Authority.
Grow small sided opportunities, including 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.

Assets and opportunities

This section reviews existing football facility assets in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole. 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 is reviewed applying a standard approach, supplemented by input from consultation with local partners and stakeholder organisations.

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

3G football turf pitches (FTPs)

Improved grass pitches

Changing room pavilions/ clubhouses

Small sided facilities

3G football turf pitches (FTPs)

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.

Assets and opportunities

The full-sized (11 v 11) 3G FTPs in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole are located at:

Slades Farm (one) - in Bournemouth
Specsavers County Ground (Dorset FA) (one) - in Poole
Canford Sports Park (one) * - in Poole

In addition, there are four small-sided 3G FTP centres located at:

Littledown Centre (six 0.25) - Bournemouth
Carter Community School (one 0.5) - Poole
Two Riversmeet Leisure Centre (two x 0.25) - Christchurch
Kings Park (two 0.25)- Bournemouth

* Canford Sports Park is a private site, and community use cannot be guarenteed. It must be noted, that this pitch was classed as secure (in the draft PPS). Should, in the future, this facility not be available for community use it will affect the shortfall listed below.

The 2019 Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole draft PPS is not yet adopted. It references a number of small-sided and other facilities which are not deemed to be suitable for match play and are, thus, not included in supply calculations. It indicates a shortfall of five full size 3G FTPs, located in the following 'sub-areas':

Bournemouth - one full-sized 3G FTP
Christchurch - two full-sized 3G FTP
Poole - one full-sized 3G FTP

On this basis, a fifth full-sized 3G FTP should be located in either Bournemouth or Poole, if and when demand is demonstrated following the delivery of the projects identified.

Only two of the full-sized 3G FTPs listed above; Slades Farm and the Specsavers County Ground (Dorset FA) are available for community use (secured). Both are on the FA Register for 3G FTPs (meaning they are quality checked and can be used for football match play). The two 3G pitches at Two Riversmeet Leisure Centre are also on the Register.

Given that the pitch at Canford Sports Park (Poole) is unsecure, and may be at risk, the supply of full-sized 3G FTPs in the Authority will be further affected if it should close or be unavailable for community use.

It is important to note that, although, as set out above, the draft PPS suggests a need for five additional full-sized 3G FTPs this is inconsistent with the FA training demand model (1: 38) which suggests there is a need for an additional two full size FTPs. Based upon the number of affiliated teams in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole overall (now) and in what were the former authority areas, would result in a (1:38) need for:

Bournemouth - need for 4.5 - shortfall of two full-sized 3G FTPs
Poole - need for 4.5 - shortfall of three full-sized 3G FTPs
Christchurch - need for 2.5 - shortfall of two full-sized 3G FTPs

Reflecting the current supply (including Canford Park) this suggests an overall shortfall of seven full-sized 3G FTPs.

Local consultation confirms the issues faced with regard to the limited availability of 3G FTP provision within the Authority. Clubs are, reportedly, having to resort to train on sand dressed facilities, indoor sports halls or at small sided provision because of the shortage of available 3G space. This would suggest a possible need to, at least, further verify the basis for the shortfall calculations included in the draft (2019) PPS.

Priority projects

In accordance with the recommendations in the draft PPS (with the relevant provisos linked to the notes set out above) six priority projects are identified; five are full sized 3G FTPs and one is a 9v9 refurbishment. It must be noted that if Canford Sports Park closes, additional projects may need to be identified.

Location

Location details:

Facilities

New 11v11 Floodlit 3G FTP (1)

NFFS outcome score

2.6/4

Overall score

68% (8.1/12)

Notes

Carter Community School is a co-educational secondary school. The school serves the Hamworthy and Turlin Moor areas. The draft PPS states that this site is unsecure for community use, however the site is heavily used by youth and adult groups and would severely impact future provision should this site be taken out of action.

Rationale: The current carpet has come to the end of its usable life which has prevented this site from maintaining its 3G Pitch Register status. The site is heavily used by clubs around Poole and would hugely impact provision if this site were to be unavailable. The school is looking to replace the carpet.

Project Focus

Adult female; Adult male; BAME; Disability; IMD / lower social economic groups; Mini-soccer; Small-sided informal; Small-sided recreational; Small-sided teams and leagues; Youth female; Youth male

A project's overall score provides an indication of its potential outcomes and deliverability only (weighted twice as much towards the outcomes score). It does not impact the likelihood or level of any potential investment.

Improved grass pitches

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.

Assets and opportunities

There are currently 26 grass pitch sites in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole with three or more full-size pitch equivalents (or with fewer than three pitches but deemed to be of strategic importance). These contain 132 grass pitches. Of these sites, 11 are considered to have good quality pitches and 15 are of standard or poor quality.

Of the 26 key pitch sites referenced above it was determined that all sites identified as standard or poor should be prioritised. This will result in quality improvements to 51 pitches:

Priority projects

15 projects for potential investment are identified. Pitch quality rating was evidenced by the latest PPS and ratified by local partners. Prioritisation was based on a rationale of selecting sites in the poor or standard condition that reflect the strategic focus to improve provision for affiliated football.