Local Football Facility Plan Carlisle

Carlisle is in the North West Region.

The current population of the Authority (ONS 2018 Mid-Year Estimate) is 108,274. This is expected to rise to 109,110 by 2039.

Carlisle is ranked 26th most deprived out of 39 LAs in the region, and 112 out of 317 LAs nationally on the Indices of Multiple Deprivation (ONS).

Its ethnic composition is primarily white (98.1%). This is substantially higher than the national average (85.4%).

The proportion of Carlisle’s population represented by the BAME community is 1.9%. This is significantly below the national average (14.6%)

Local authority

The Carlisle Council Local Plan vision states that 'In 2030... the District of Carlisle, with the City at its heart, is successfully asserting its position, as a centre for activity and prosperity, as the capital and economic engine for a region encompassing Cumbria, the western fringes of Northumberland and extending into South West Scotland.

The Authority's most recent playing pitch strategy was adopted in 2013 and is, therefore, out of date.

County football association

Carlisle is covered by the Cumberland 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). Carlisle Utd Community Sports Trust runs a variety of health, education, engagement, football and sporting activities in the local area.

Local leisure operator

GLL is the key leisure operator in Carlisle. It currently runs the Harraby Sports Campus which includes a full sized 3G FTP.

Local consultation

This has taken place with a broad and diverse set of community groups in Carlisle. 15 individuals (representing 15 local organisations) were spoken to. The agencies consulted include:

• Carlisle City Council
• GLL
• A range of local affiliated clubs

(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. Carlisle has a total of 255 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 Carlisle, 12 clubs have more than 10 registered teams. These (based upon 2019/20 affiliation data) are:

• Carlisle City FC - 21 teams
• Carlisle Reivers FC - 20 teams
• Carlisle United FC - 15 teams
• Crusaders FC - 13 teams
• Dalston Juniors Black Reds FC - 10 teams
• Gillford Par k Juniors FC - 14 teams
• Harraby Catholic Club Juniors FC - 16 teams
• Northbank FC - 22 teams
• Pirelli Juniors - 10 teams
• Stanwix Juniors FC - 25 teams
• Unisun Athletic (Inc Juniors) FC – 12 teams
• Warwick Wanderers Juniors FC - 17 teams

Leagues

Nine leagues cater for clubs and teams in Carlisle. They offer competitive opportunity for many different players, including women and girls, disability, youth and adults. They (2019-20) include:

• Carlisle Glass Longhorn Youth League – 178 teams – home and away / central venue at multiple site
• Carlisle City Sunday League – 28 teams – home and away /central venue at multiple sites
• Cumbria Veterans League – 7 teams across Carlisle – home and away
• Cumberland FA Women’s League – 5 teams across Carlisle – home and away
• Penrith & District Junior League – 10 teams across Carlisle – home and away
• The Cumberland Ability Counts League – 9 teams across Carlisle – central venue
• Cumberland County League – 5 teams across Carlisle – home and away
• Cumberland FA Walking Football League – 3 teams across Carlisle – Central Venue
• Cumberland FA Flexi League – 5 teams across Carlisle – Central Venue

The County FA reports considerable cross boundary migration to/from Carlisle primarily due to teams playing in the Carlisle Glass Longhorn Youth League and The Cumberland Ability Counts 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 Carlisle there are 11 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. Carlisle has one FA Wildcats girls football centre and the priority is to grow this activity.

At 28, Carlisle’s number of female teams is comparable to local areas of a similar size. The County FA’s priority is to support existing clubs to grow and encourage more of them to develop playing opportunities for females. The local girls’ league is the Carlisle Glass Longhorn Youth League in which matches are played on a home and away and a central venue basis. It is expected to grow its provision in future years. The local adult female league is the Cumberland FA Women’s League in which matches are played 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 Durham Wildcats. Cumberland FA runs a Girls Advanced Coaching Centre based in Carlisle. 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 Durham Wildcats 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:

• Billy Rafferty: Astro Soccer Sixes – Harraby Sports Complex 3G
• Soccer World Carlisle – Soccer World, Carlisle

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 specific teams training and playing for Carlisle Futsal Club, with a further 67 teams playing as part of the winter futsal provision within the Carlisle Glass Longhorn Youth Football League across Carlisle at key site locations including Morton School, Trinity School, Caldew School, Harraby Sports Complex & University of Cumbria Fusehill Campus, as well as Nelson Thomlinson School - located in Allerdale. It is a priority for the County FA to grow futsal for youth/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 two FA Just Play centres in Carlisle. Walking football sessions are delivered by a range of community organisations such as Carlisle United Community Sports Trust. Walking football and Just Play are County FA priorities for further growth and development. Casual bookings where users who play on a turn up and play basis are available at other sites across the area.

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 Carlisle is played right across the local authority. Floodlit MUGAs are located at various points in the City and cater for varying levels of use.

The key strengths of local football in Carlisle include mini soccer, youth and adult football along with adult disability provision. It is recommended that this is sustained and also encouraged to grow further. However, provision gaps include entry level provision for female players at U7 & U8 along with U18 youth football. It is, therefore, recommended that the future football development priorities for Carlisle are to:

1. Grow female provision at U7/8 entry level
2. Continue the expansion of the flexi football offer
3. Retain and grow futsal provision
4. Retain and grow youth male football
5. Sustain youth female provision
6. Increased accessibility to disability football in grassroots clubs
7. Sustain adult male football
8. Develop recreational alternatives such as Walking Football

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

In addition, 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 Carlisle. 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 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 three existing full-sized (11 v 11) 3G FTPs in Carlisle are located at:

• Carlisle Campus Sports (Harraby)
• Caldew School
• Richard Rose Central Academy

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

• Carlisle Campus Sports (Harraby)
• Carlisle United (Brunton Park)
• Soccerworld Carlisle.

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 272 teams in Carlisle, there is a requirement for seven full sized 3G FTPs. There are currently three and there is, thus, a shortfall of four. In addition, the 3G FTP at Carlisle Campus Sports (Harraby) will require replacement within the time period covered by the LFFP.

Each of the three existing full-sized facilities is available for community use, however only Carlisle Sports Campus is is on the FA Register for 3G FTPs (meaning it is quality checked and can be used for football match play). It is strongly recommended that the pitches at Caldew School and Richard Rose Central Academy are assessed and placed on the Register to enable more match play on 3G.

The spread of 3G FTPs is uneven and there are provision gaps in the north and west of the City where there is currently strong affiliated club demand for training and matchplay. In addition, the St Cuthberts Carlisle Garden City, to the south of Carlisle (due to be delivered in the medium/long term) could eventually create additional demand. This should be factored into future versions of the LFFP.

It should also be noted that a new stadium for Carlisle United (potentially involving 3G facilities and associated CUFC Community Sports Trust and wider community use), is a long held ambition of the club. Whilst no clear site option has yet been found, it is recommended that a formal project group involving LFFP steering group partners should continue to develop proposals and therefore inform future versions of the LFFP as necessary.

Local consultation confirms the local issues faced in respect of limited 3G availability and the recommendations in this plan are designed to address this.

Four priority projects for potential investment are identified, comprising a new 3G FTP at Richard Rose Academy (Morton), further new pitches in the North and West of the City and the refurbishment of existing pitches at Harraby Campus.

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 11 grass pitch sites in Carlisle with three or more full-size pitch equivalents (or with fewer than three pitches but deemed to be of strategic importance). These contain 52 grass pitches.

Local consultation shows common issues with poor quality, low availability, long travel distances and it is recommended that these are addressed.

Of the 11 sites referenced ten are prioritised in this plan. This will result in quality improvements to 45 pitches:

In addition to the above, consultation with Stanwix Juniors identified that its facility at Rickerby Park suffers from repeated flooding and an alternative option to accommodate the club should be explored in the medium to longer term.

Ten priority projects for potential investment are identified. The underlying pitch quality ratings were evidenced by CFA pitch improvement plans. Prioritisation was based on a rationale of selecting sites with pitches that are in the poorest condition and which reflect the City's strategic focus to improve both local authority and club pitches.

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 11 key grass pitch sites in Carlisle with three or more full-size pitch equivalents (or with fewer than three but deemed to be of strategic importance) seven have suitable changing rooms, and four require improvement/replacement.

Four 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, and specifically with the Cumberland CFA indicates that, at present, there is potential to ensure that future new indoor sports facility development can accommodate futsal to meet the identified needs of Carlisle Futsal Club along with the wider futsal demand in the district .

Consultation did not identify any specific small sided facility developments. However, the following wards, all of which encompass areas of high socio-economic deprivation have been identified as priorities in respect of addressing current levels of physical inactivity. Their location also correlates with current CUFC Foundation activity.

• Harraby South & Parklands (Upperby: East 011F)
• Newtown & Morton North (Belle Vue: South East 009A)
• Denton Holme & Morton South (Morton: South 009D)*
• Botcherby & Harraby North (Botcherby: Central 011A)
• Currock & Upperby (Upperby: North West 012E)

Local consultation suggests that there are no sites currently requiring improvement to cater for small sided 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,

• Club representative - Gillford Park FC
• Club representative - Warwick Wanderers Juniors
• Club representative - Pirelli Juniors
• Club representative - Carlisle Futsal Club
• Club representative - Northbank
• Club representative - Stanwix Juniors
• Club representative - Unisun Athletic
• GLL - Harraby facility manager
• Lead officer - CUFC Community Sports Trust
• CEO – Carlisle United FC
• Secretary - The Cumberland Ability Counts League
• Secretary - Cumberland County League
• Secretary - Carlisle City Sunday League
• Deputy CEO -Active Cumbria
• Senior Manager, Public Health - Cumbria County Council