Local Football Facility Plan Croydon

Demographics for the area can be seen below:

Local authority

Croydon Council's 'Mayor's Business Plan (2022-2026)' identifies five priority outcomes to transform the council and borough to one which local residents can be proud of. These include:

• The council balancing its books, listening to residents and delivering good sustainable services.
• Croydon as a place of opportunity for business, earning and learning.
• Children having a chance to thrive, learn and fulfil their potential.
• Croydon as a cleaner, safer and healthier place which all can be proud of.
• People being able to lead healthier and independent lives for longer.

There are evident connections between the plan and the aspirations of the Local Football Facility Plan - which seeks to identify priority projects that can be delivered sustainably, provide chances for people to thrive, and deliver positive health outcomes.

The local authority has a Sports and Physical Activity Facilities Strategy (2018-2023) which is based upon the findings of a 2015 Indoor Facilities Assessment and the 2017 Playing Pitch Assessment and Strategy. The key findings for football are:

• Ancillary facility quality is more-often-than-not poor quality.
• There is a shortfall of five 3G AGPs, with existing pitches oversubscribed at peak times.
• There is also a shortfall of 12 full size natural grass pitches.
• Displaced demand has been identified, equating to 30 teams at the time of the strategy's development.

Information from the strategy is considered within the LFFP, however owing to the age of the strategy, this will be supplemented by current football affiliation data, steering group engagement and consultation with local football clubs.

County football association

Croydon is covered primarily by the Surrey County FA, although some clubs in the borough affiliate to either London FA or the Amateur FA. The County FAs 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 a designated facilities investment lead officer who works to ensure the right facilities are located in the right locations.

Football Foundation

The Regional Delivery 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 (Crystal) Palace for Life Foundation runs a variety of health, education, engagement, football and sporting activities within the local area.

Local leisure operator

Better (GLL) is the key leisure operator in Croydon. It runs seven key sites across the borough. Those with football facilities include Monks Hill Sports Centre (two 7v7 3G FTPs) and Croydon Sports Arena (one stadia grass pitch).

Local consultation

This has taken place with a broad and diverse set of community groups in Croydon, including:

• Croydon Council
• Surrey County FA
• London FA
• Amateur FA
• The Football Foundation
• Palace For Life
• London Sport
• Sport England
• National Governing Bodies of sport, including:
  • England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB)
  • England Hockey
  • Rugby Football Union (RFU)
  • Rugby Football League (RFL)
• Local football 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. Croydon has a total of 348 teams affiliated to either Surrey FA (281 teams), London FA (64 teams) or Amateur FA (three teams).

Survive. Revive. Thrive is the FA Grassroots Football Strategy 2020-2024. To deliver the goals for male and female football, there must be a vibrant, best-in-class club network around the country. The FA will work to encourage as many clubs as possible to achieve FA-Accredited status, assuring quality in everything they offer, including ever-safer and stronger player pathways. This will be coupled with a commitment to improve the quality of thousands of pitches up and down the country, with a particular focus on grass pitches.

Over the last 10-years there has been a significant national increase in the number of large multi-team football clubs. In Croydon, six clubs have more than 10 registered teams. The (based upon 2022-23 affiliation data) are:

• Caterham Pumas - 46 teams
• Forestdale Youth - 28 teams
• BB Soccer - 25 teams
• R&R FC - 23 teams
• AFC Croydon - 18 teams
• Crystal Palace Community FC - 13 teams
• Most Wanted Elite - 11 teams

Leagues

Affiliated teams in Croydon play across a large number of local and regional leagues. They offer competitive opportunity for many different players, including women and girls, disability, youth and adults.

The largest local leagues (2022-23) include:

• Tandridge Youth Football League – 83 teams – home and away
• Epsom & Ewell Youth League – 48 teams – home and away
• Croydon Municipal Sunday League – 20 teams – home and away

As identified in the Playing Pitch Strategy, there is some cross boundary migration in Croydon due to teams playing outside the borough.

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 Croydon there is one football team 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 had big ambitions for women and girls football and managed to double levels of participation between 2017 and 2020. To achieve this required a combined effort across four pathways: education, recreation, competition and talent. Despite achieving this ambitious target more places to play are still required for women and girls. The focus now is to give all girls equal access to football by 2024 and this will be a key objective of any facility investment. The FA’s four-year strategy, titled Inspiring Positive Change, pledges to create a sustainable future for women’s and girls’ football in England. The strategy outlines eight transformational objectives to be achieved by 2024, the following across grassroots football:

• Early Participation – Every primary school-aged girl to have equal access to football in school and in clubs.
• Development Participation – Every girl to have equal access to participate for fun, for competition and for excellence.
• Club Player Pathway – Collaborate with clubs to develop an effective high-performance, inclusive player-centred pathway.
• Football For All – Recruit and support a motivated, diverse range of local leaders organising football for their communities.
• Coaching – Support the development of exceptional coaches at every level of the game who are representative of our society.
• Refereeing – Ensure that every female referee afforded high-quality bespoke learning and development opportunities from grassroots through to the elite game.

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. Croydon has 22 FA Wildcats girls football centres, and the priority is to sustain this activity.

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 Surrey County Women and Girls League in which matches are played on a home and away basis. It is expected to grow its provision in future years. Surrey FA have a 11v11 County League which operates at Tier 7, they also have a flexible small-sided women's league which plays on a home and away basis. The league has grown vastly over the past four seasons and is expected to continue to grow in future years with an additional offer for girls.

Girls' Emerging Talent Centres (ETCs) across the nation are provided to increase and diversify the talent pool and give more girls than ever the chance to take their first steps on the pathway towards playing professional football. Chelsea Foundation operate an ETC in Sutton, whilst Brighton & Hove Albion FC operate an ETC in Tandridge.

Higher level talent pathway opportunities are also provided regionally and nationally by the FA, culminating in the England Women’s national squads. Crystal Palace Women, which provides player pathway opportunities for gifted and talented female players and a spectator interest for fans, currently play in the FA Championship.

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.

The key local provider is Powerleague Croydon (located in neighbouring Sutton).

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.

At present, there is no FA Just Play centre in Croydon. Walking football sessions are delivered by a range of community organisation such as the Palace for Life Foundation. Walking football and Just Play are County FA priorities for further growth and development.

The key strengths of local football in Croydon include significant growth in the number of affiliated teams and strong Wildcats provision and it is recommended that this is sustained and also encouraged to grow further. However, gaps in provision do exist, such as Just Play, squad and disability provision.

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

1. Growth in disability football provision (with a particular focus on female disability provision).
2. Increasing engagement to support more people in a densely populated area to access the game.
3. Female 11v11, small sided and recreational provision.

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. 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
• Off pitch and ancillary facilities (e.g. toilets, changing rooms, catering)
• 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.

Existing full-sized (11 v 11) 3G FTPs in Croydon include:

• Coombe Wood School
• Harris Academy Purley
• Selhurst Sports Arena
• The Archbishop Lanfrac Academy

Additionally, there are currently five small-sided 3G FTP centres in Croydon:

• Ark Blake Academy (5 v 5)
• Coloma Convent Girls (9 v 9)
• Coulsdon College (5 v 5)
• Harris City Academy (5 v 5)
• Monks Hill Sports Centre / The Quest Academy (2 x 7 v 7)

All pitches are available for community use.

Powerleague Croydon is also located nearby to the west, providing ten 5 v 5 pitches and two 7 v 7 pitches, however this is located just across the border in neighbouring Sutton.

Croydon has a PPS undertaken in 2017. The PPS indicates that there is a shortfall of five full size 3G FTPs. Due to the age of the PPS, this assessment is now considered out of date 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 348 teams in Croydon, there is a requirement for nine full sized 3G FTPs. There are currently four full sized 3G FTPs in Croydon and there is thus a shortfall of five full sized 3G FTPs.

In addition to the shortfall of full sized 3G FTPs, three pitches (Coloma Convent Girls' School, The Archbishop Lanfrac Academy and Harris Academy Purley) are likely to require replacement, having been installed in 2010, 2010 and 2013, respectively.

Coombe Wood School 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 remaining pitches are assessed and placed on the Register to enable more match play on 3G.

The geographic spread of existing facilities is uneven; the majority are located in the north, east and central areas of the local authority where the population levels are highest. There are no facilities in the southernmost parts of the authority (such as the Purley, Kenley and Coulsdon areas).

Local consultation reveals no common issues with high pricing, long travel distances or lack of community use and therefore priority should be focused on addressing the 3G pitch shortfalls via new facilities located where demand is greatest.

The FA has seen unprecedented growth over the last five years, particularly in the youth and women & girls game. Overall participation is estimated to grow year on year, equating to an additional 79 teams in the local authority by 2030, of which 13 will come from women and girls. This could represent the equivalent of up to two additional 11v11 3G FTPs.

Allowances will be made for in the LFFP for ancillary provision for each pitch if needed, however this is subject to the final agreed location of any additional future provision and an assessment as to whether there are existing suitable facilities available. This is displayed as a future participation growth project below.

Six priority locations (providing for seven full-sized AGP projects) for potential investment are identified, including two refurbishment proposals.

Each project was selected based upon a rationale of good access, high population, geographic spread, existing facility quality and high levels of deprivation / high proportions of people from lower social economic groups.

The Football Foundation is on a mission to transform the quality of grass football pitches across England, because great facilities enhance physical and mental wellbeing, strengthen communities and empower people. The quality of football pitches is a huge issue for community football; 150,000 matches were postponed due to poor pitches during the last full football season. We are therefore on a mission to improve 20,000 grass pitches across England.

The Grass Pitch Maintenance Fund is a £21m fund that provides eligible clubs and leagues with a tapered six-year grant to help them sustain pitches already at a 'good' level and enhance pitches that are either considered 'poor' or 'basic'. In order to be eligible, clubs and leagues must use the PitchPower app to assess their pitches. This provides a detailed assessment report with recommendations on improving the quality of grass pitches. The PitchPower app is available to all pitch owners as a way to assess grass pitch quality and gain access to grass pitch improvement recommendations. See Football Foundation | PitchPower

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.

Through the use of PitchPower we are able to identify the demand for investment into new or additional machinery and equipment and see this as an important step towards sustainability for the voluntary sector. Ensuring clubs and leagues can maintain their own sites, supplemented by contracted out major works (e.g. aeration) is potentially a more cost effective approach in the long term.

While the education sector (23.8%) and local authorities (51.8%) are still the principal asset owners of grass pitches and have the heaviest reliance for affiliated matches, clubs / leagues own or maintain an increasing share and we will continue to prioritise investment into sites that are maintained by clubs or leagues.

PitchPower has allowed all club owned and leased sites to apply for funding to improve grass pitch maintenance. In Croydon, four eligible sites have received funding:

• Toldene (Old Coulsdon Colts)
• Croygas Sports Ground (Croygas Phoenix FC)
• Joliffe Playing Ground (Caterham Pumas)

The aim now should be to get these pitches up to the 'good' standard and work to sustain them.

Croydon has a total of 24 sites which provide three or more grass pitches, or have been identified via consultation as key strategic sites to support grassroots football.

Of these, there are nine grass pitch sites in the local area that have been identified as either currently maintained, in part or whole, by grassroots clubs, leagues, or schools, and should therefore be prioritised to secure grass pitch improvements:

• Edgehill Playing Fields (Shelton Athletic FC)
• Hamsey Green Primary School (Southside Warriors)
• Meridian High School
• Norbury Manor Primary School (Mini Sports Stars)
• Riddlesdown Collegiate (BB Soccer, Croydon Wolves)
• Shirley High School (Smart Sport FC)
• St John's CE Primary School (Supreme Sport FC)
• Whytleafe Pitches / Church Road Sports Ground (AFC Whyteleafe, Kinetic Foundation)
• Woodcote High School (AC Coulsdon)

Of these, two sites have been assessed via PitchPower and are known to have four basic quality pitches. The first step for all other sites is to ensure that the pitches have a baseline quality assessment completed via PitchPower. The 9 key pitch sites referenced above, should these be prioritised for improvements, could result in quality improvements to 24 pitches.

Furthermore, Green Lane Sports Ground has the potential to reactivate grass pitch provision (subject to a suitable assessment of ground conditions and maintenance requirements) and is therefore identified as a project for potential improvement. The ground could accommodate various pitch configurations, but for the purpose of this plan is identified as a three-pitch site.

10 priority projects for potential investment have been identified. Pitch quality rating was evidenced by PitchPower (or the PPS and ratified by local partners where PitchPower data isn't available). Prioritisation was based on a rationale of selecting sites that are well utilised, identified as requiring improvement and having the necessary eligibilities to secure funding for grass pitch improvements.

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 24 key grass pitch sites in Croydon with three or more full-size pitch equivalents (or with fewer than three but deemed to be of strategic importance), several sites require improvement/replacement to meet the needs of existing users, whilst new facilities are a likely requirement for sites identified as priorities for new AGP provision to support the intensified usage of those facilities.

Consultation with local football clubs reveals concerns relating to facility quality at Ashburton Playing Fields, Purley Way Playing Fields and Croydon Sports Arena - each of which has ancillary provision identified as priorities associated with any potential AGP development.

Joliffe Playing Ground has benefitted from recent installation of a portacabin, however there remains a lack of changing and toilet provision.

The FA has seen unprecedented growth over the last five years, particularly in the youth and women & girls game. Overall participation is estimated to grow year on year, equating to an additional 79 teams in the local authority by 2030, of which 13 will come from women and girls. This could represent the equivalent of up to two additional 11v11 3G FTPs.

Allowances will be made for in the LFFP for ancillary provision for each pitch if needed, however this is subject to the final agreed location of any additional future provision and an assessment as to whether there are existing suitable facilities available. This is displayed as a future participation growth project below.

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, the audiences and the various facility types they relate to.

Research suggests that small-sided players in teams and leagues, and in organised 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.

Whilst our priorities will always be football led, we believe Small sided facilities provide a good opportunity to collaborate with other sports to deliver high quality spaces for people to play recreational sport. This will be achieved via our PlayZones Programme:

Football Foundation PlayZone Programme

PlayZones are modern, safe, and engaging facilities that are designed for recreational football and at least one other sport. There are a range of facility types to meet the needs of different sports.

Through this programme we want to address stubborn inequalities in activity levels and access to sports facilities within four priority groups:

• Lower socio-economic groups
• Women and girls
• Disabled people and people with long-term health conditions
• Ethnically diverse communities

Our research also shows us that when it comes to small sided facilities one size does not fit all and localised design and ownership will yield the greatest engagement from under represented groups. Activation is also as important as the facility itself for these groups. This section of the LFFP will concentrate on suitable places for PlayZones.

Suitable places will be identified through a combination of mapping, to include identification of our priority groups and crossover with other multi-sport priorities. Further community engagement will be required for design and delivery. Where some engagement has already been carried out projects will appear in the project list.

All projects will then need to be developed by a cross sector consortium where partners who understand and represent the people and the place come together to drive the project forward and create access and opportunities for priority groups.

Our research shows us that community engagement is the key to developing great small sided facilities and that we shouldn't try and identify sites without first identifying two key things:

• Key priority places within the local authority
• Key priority groups within the local authority

Once these two things are identified local community engagement is required to identify potential sites for investment. In Croydon the starting point for priority places, identified through previous Local Authority work around deprivation and inactivity, is:

• Central Croydon
• New Addington
• Norbury
• Shrublands

The key priority groups in Croydon are:

• Lower socio-economic groups
• Women and girls
• Disabled people and people with long-term health conditions
• Ethnically diverse communities

This priority group of places and people will be ratified through community engagement and consultation, with projects required to meet locally-identified needs whilst demonstrating suitable access and governance arrangements to ensure suitable operation and activation of any facilities delivered.

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

• Croydon Council
• Surrey County FA
• London FA
• Amateur FA
• The Football Foundation
• Palace For Life
• London Sport
• Sport England
• National Governing Bodies of sport, including: [NOT YET CONSULTED - TO BE ENGAGED ONCE DRAFT APPROVED VIA STEERING GROUP]
  • England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB)
  • England Hockey
  • Rugby Football Union (RFU)
  • Rugby Football League (RFL)
• Addiscombe Casuals FC
• Addiscombe Corinthians FC
• BB Soccer FC
• Croydon FC
• Forestdale Youth FC
• Old Whitgiftians FC
• Shirley Town FC
• St. Gertrudes FC
• SZ United FC
• Woodside FC