Local Football Facility Plan Camden

Camden is located in the Greater London region.

The current population of the authority (ONS 2017 Mid-Year Estimate) is 246,181. This is expected to rise to 303,146 by 2039.

Camden is ranked 15 out of 33 LAs in the region, and 72 out of 326 LAs nationally on the Indices of Multiple Deprivation (ONS)

Camden's ethnic composition is primarily white (62.2%). This is significantly lower than the national average (85.4%).

The proportion of Camden’s population represented by the BAME community is 33.8%. This is significantly above the national average (14.6%).

Local authority

The LB Camden 'Our Camden Plan' (2018-2022) is the Council's response to the Camden 2025 vision. It outlines how the Authority as an organisation aims to achieve its stated ambitions. It reaffirms "our values and ambitions and shows how we will work with our communities to take forward our shared priorities over the the next four years, between 2018 and 2022." The themes underpinning the Plan are:

• Homes and housing.
• Strong growth and access to jobs.
• Safe strong and open communities.
• Clean, vibrant and sustainable places.
• Healthy independent lives.

As part of the healthy independent lives theme, the Council commits to create environments across the borough that make it easier to make healthy choices and take part in physical activity.

The local authority does not have a current PPS.

County football association

Camden is covered by the London 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.

Professional community club organisations (CCOs)

These offer a variety of programmes and services to support local communities (sporting and non-sporting). The Arsenal Foundation runs a variety of health, education, engagement, football and sporting activities in the local area. It should also be noted that the Paris Saint-Germain Foundation also delivers some coaching sessions at a number of schools across the borough.

Local leisure operator

GLL is the key leisure operator in Camden. It currently runs five key sites including Talacare Community Sports Centre and Swiss Cottage Leisure Centre. Both of these have small sided football facilities (non 3G carpets) which are heavily utilised for structured recreational football.

Local consultation

This has taken place with a broad and diverse set of community groups in Camden. 26 individuals (representing 20 local organisations) were spoken to. The agencies consulted include:

• LB Camden
• Coram's Fields
• Regent High School
• City of London Corporation
• Somali Youth Development Resource Centre

(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. Camden has a total of 42 teams, which is lower than 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 Camden, one club (Hill Soccer School - with 13) has more than 10 registered teams.

Leagues

Five leagues operate in Camden and the neighbouring boroughs of Islington, Westminster and Barnet. Due to space limitations within Camden and other neighbouring boroughs all leagues referenced below are based at central venues. They offer competitive opportunities for many different players, including women and girls, youth and adults. While there is no specific league opportunity for disability football within Camden, suitable provision is made in neighbouring Islington.

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

• Camden Youth– 16 teams– central venue
• Camden Sunday– 10 teams– central venue
• Camden and Islington Youth League– 182 teams– central venue
• Islington Midweek League– 23 teams– central venue
• Camden & Regents Park Youth League - 238 teams– central venue

The County FA reports significant cross boundary migration to/from Camden due to teams migrating out to play in the Market Road and Regent's Parks leagues in Islington and Westminster respectively.

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 Camden there is no football team / session 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. Although unaffiliated, Camden Council do run a weekly session specifically for adults with a disability.

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. Camden has two FA Wildcats girls football centres and the priority is to grow this activity.

At two, Camden’s number of female teams is substantially 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 Camden & Islington Youth League in which matches are played on a central venue basis. The league is expected to grow its provision in future years. It should also be noted that Camden Council programmes deliver weekly sessions for over 110 girls per week. Through this, Camden Youth FC has affiliated with London FA.

For talented players, the most local FA Regional Talent Club (RTC) is Arsenal which is located in neighbouring Islington. 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 Arsenal 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:

• Go Mammoth
• Powerplay

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 no affiliated futsal teams in Camden. It is a priority for the County FA to develop further opportunity to play 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 is currently one FA Just Play Centre in Camden. Walking football sessions are delivered by a range of community organisation such as GLL. Walking football and Just Play are County FA priorities for further growth and development.

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 is played across the borough. Parliament Hill Fields, Hampstead Heath, Kilburn Grange Park and Primrose Hill are key heavily used site locations.

The key strengths of local football in Camden include recreational provision and it is recommended that this is sustained and also encouraged to grow further. However, it is difficult to accurately define the club offer given the lack of home ground facilities in the borough.

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

1.Development of a better understanding of the breakdown of Camden clubs

2.Growing Just Play in the area

3.Increasing female affiliated football

4.Developing clubs to reach Charter Standard

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 Camden. 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.

The national ‘Mini Pitch’ programme delivers small 3G FTPs at primary school sites to provide a high quality introduction to football and get children more physically active. While mini pitches are reviewed in this section, they are not included in the demand and supply analysis for 3G FTPs.

There is no standard configuration full-sized (11 v 11) 3G FTP in Camden. However, Coram's Fields (which is 117m x 50m) is a large football site which is split into three 7v7 pitches. Although not usable for 11v11 affiliated match play it is a very important football venue in the borough and is, for the purposes of this plan, treated as the equivalent of a full-sized 3G FTP.

In addition to Coram's Fields, there are currently four small-sided 3G FTPs in Camden:

• Warren Sports Pitch (x1 5v5)
• Fairfield Play Centre (x1 5v5)
• Foundation Mews (x1 5v5)
• Kajima Community pitch at Haverstock School (x1 5v5)

There is also a significant number of multi sport AGPs and MUGAs; these facilities are reportedly heavily used for structured recreational football.

Further to the above, the small-sided pitch space at Swiss Cottage Leisure Centre which is a key site for recreational football) is scheduled to have a new, short pile 3G surface installed imminently (Spring 2019). This is being undertaken without funding from the Football Foundation. Additionally a new 5V5 3G FTP is due to be installed in July 2019, this facility has been funded by the Football Foundation.

Camden does not have a current PPS and, therefore, demand for 3G FTPs has been calculated using FA 3G demand modelling, which in Camden identifies that the demand for recreational football is higher than affiliated demand. Taking account of the facilities noted above (excluding the one at Swiss cottage) there is a shortfall of ten full sized 3G FTPs (or equivalents) relative to assessed demand.

All the existing pitches are available for community use. None are on the FA Register for 3G FTPs (meaning that they have not been quality checked and should not be used for football match play). Severe land constraints in Camden mean that it is challenging to find space for FA match play compliant pitches. However, it is strongly recommended that any future small sided FTP developments (for example 7v7 size) are assessed and placed on the Register to enable more match play on 3G.

The geographic spread of existing facilities is uneven and there are provision gaps across the borough. Camden has, throughout, high levels of population, significant planned regeneration & housing growth and high levels of deprivation so it is recommended that any opportunity to address provision gaps is taken. These are especially prevalent in the Somers Town, Kings Cross and Euston areas . because of space limitations, an approach based predominantly on developing small sided (rather than full sized) 3G pitches has been adopted to help alleviate the borough-wide shortfall.

Four priority projects for potential investment are identified. Whilst these do not meet the identified shortfall of full sized FTPs based on recreational demand, it is recommended that future iterations of the plan address this when additional land / development opportunities become available.

Sites were selected based upon the fact that there is an opportunity to develop them, the fact that where possible they address specific provision gaps and serve areas of high and dense population where high numbers of people from lower social economic groups reside:

There is currently one grass pitch site in Camden which contains two grass pitches; Parliament Hill Fields. Thee pitches at this site are considered to be of average quality. It is a high priority for improvement.

It it important to note that a large number of Camden based affiliated teams utilise grass pitches at Regents Park in neighbouring City of Westminster. More detail with regard to current provision at, and the plans for, Regents Park can be found in the Westminster LFFP.

One priority project for potential investment is identified.

The one key grass pitch site in Camden; Parliament Hill Fields is served by suitable changing rooms.

Castlehaven Community Centre is listed as a 3G FTP priority project. There is a requirement to improve the changing facilities at this venue to support the potential 3G development. Additionally, a new pavilion is required as part of the potential 3G FTP development at Kilburn Grange Park.

Two priority project for potential investment is identified. The site in question requires new provision to service demand for a proposed new small-sided 3G FTP:

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 indicates that no indoor facilities currently require improvement to develop small sided football.

Eight potential opportunities for MUGAs are identified. In each case the rationale is based on the site being in an area with limited recreational provision with high local demand for informal football.

Following local consultation, and assisted by the Sport England green spaces mapping tool one location is identified to support small sided informal football. Camden's central London location means that open spaces are limited in size and availability, hence the decision to focus on potential MUGA opportunities.

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:

• Community Development Officer - The Arsenal Foundation
• Community Sport and Physical Activity Manager - LB Camden
• Chairman - Kentish Town Football Academy
• Chief Executive Officer - Castlehaven Community Association
• Chief Executive Officer - Coram's Fields
• Director - South Hampstead and Kilburn partnership (SHAK)
• Director of Operations - Acland Burghley School
• Football Development Manager - Amateur Football Alliance
• Football Development Officer - London Football Association
• Green Space Development Officer - LB Camden
• Head of Delivery - London Football Association
• Head of Operations - Holborn Community Association
• Leisure & Events Manager (North London Open Spaces) - City of London
• Manager - Fitzrovia Youth in Action
• Manager - Highgate Newtown Community Centre
• Manager - Maiden Lane Community Centre
• Manager - Somers Town Community Association
• Relationship Manager - London Sport
• Schools Policy and Investment Manager - LB Camden
• School Business Leader - Regent High School
• Secretary - Bloomsbury Football Academy
• Secretary – Camden & Islington Youth League
• Secretary - First Touch Football (youth)
• Secretary – Islington Midweek Football League
• Secretary - Pro Touch SA
• Senior Planner (Regeneration) - LB Camden
• Sports Development Manager - The Calthorpe Project
• Youth Services Manager - Somali Youth Development Resource Centre & N1C Centre