Local Football Facility Plan Fenland

Demographics for the area can be seen below:

Local authority

Fenland District Council’s Health and Wellbeing Strategy commits it to addressing local health inequalities through three key strategic priorities:

• Collaborative working - contributing to support local Health and Wellbeing projects and outcomes in partnership with others.
• Lifestyle factors - focusing resources on vulnerable groups and wards in deprivation to tackle lifestyle factors affecting health (including physical inactivity)
• Mental health - including building community resilience, aspirations and general wellbeing.

Sports facilities, including priorities identified within the LFFP, can play an important role in supporting these strategic priorities - providing places for people to socialise and be physically active, therefore supporting improved health and wellbeing outcomes.

The local authority has a Playing Pitch Strategy in place; this was adopted in 2016. The key findings and stated overarching priorities are that, overall, the majority of grass pitches in Fenland are of good quality, but that several of the larger multi-pitch sites do require some form of improvement. In addition, it was identified that there was a shortfall of between one and two full sized 3G FTPs.

County Football Association

Fenland is covered by the Cambridgeshire 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 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. The Regional Facility Planning Manager (FPM) will lead and be responsible for all aspects of strategic planning and will lead on refreshing of LFFPs.

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)

There is no active CCO in Fenland.

Local leisure operator

Freedom leisure is the leisure operator in Fenland. It currently runs several key sites including indoor sports centres at Whittlesey, Wisbech, March and Chatteris.

Local consultation

This has taken place with a broad and diverse set of community groups in Fenland. The agencies consulted include:

• Fenland District Council
• Cambridgeshire County FA
• Living Sport
• Local football clubs
• National Governing Bodies of sport, including:
  • England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB)
  • Middlesex Cricket
  • England Hockey
  • The Rugby Football Union (RFU)
  • The Rugby Football League (RFL)

Local consultation took place with a broad and diverse set of community groups in the original LFFP. As part of the refresh process a survey was sent via the County FA to all football clubs in the area. Furthermore, it is a requirement that all projects that move through to application phase undertake detailed community engagement to ensure that facilities fully serve the communities they are being designed for.

Clubs

There are over 91,000 community football teams in England, spread over an expansive network of clubs and leagues. Fenland has a total of 165 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 Fenland, six clubs have more than 10 registered teams. The largest of these (based upon 2022-23 affiliation data) are:

• Whittlesey Juniors - 25 teams
• Chatteris Town FC - 21 teams
• Wisbech St Mary - 18 teams
• March Academy - 17 teams
• Leverington Sports Youth - 16 teams
• March Town Athletic - 14 teams

Leagues

Five leagues operate in Fenland. They offer competitive opportunity for many different players, including women and girls, youth and adults. While there are no specific league opportunities for disability teams within Fenland itself, there is countywide provision.

Fenland's largest local leagues (2022-23) include:

• Peterborough Junior Alliance – 422 teams (of which 45 teams are from Fenland) – home and away
• Peterborough and District Football League – 224 (of which 15 teams are from Fenland) – home and away
• Cambridgeshire Girls and Women's League – 208 (of which 20 teams are from Fenland) – home and away
• Cambridgeshire County League – 181 (of which 14 teams are from Fenland) – home and away
• Mid Norfolk Youth League – 163 (of which 9 teams are from Fenland) – home and away

The County FA reports significant cross boundary migration to/from Fenland District primarily due to teams migrating outwards to play in the leagues listed above .

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 Fenland, there are two 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 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. Fenland has four FA Wildcats girls football centres and the priority is to sustain this activity.

Fenland has 16 female teams, and the County FA’s priority is to support existing clubs to grow and encourage more clubs to develop playing opportunities for females. The local league is the Cambridgeshire Girls and Women's League in which matches are played on a home and away basis. It is expected to grow its provision in future years.

For talented players, the most local FA Regional Talent Club (RTC) is Milton Keyes and Cambridgeshire FA ACC (East Cambs). 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 small-sided providers include:

• Soccersixes at Leverington Sports FC
• Powerleague at Stanground Sports Centre

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 Fenland. Walking football sessions are delivered by a range of community organisation such as Wisbech Town, Elm Tree and New Vision and Cambridgeshire FA. Walking football and Just Play are County FA priorities for further growth.

The key strengths of local football in Fenland include traditional football/league provision and it is recommended that this is sustained and also encouraged to grow further. However, gaps in provision do exist, these include a lack of Just Play provision, and a need to develop additional opportunities for the female game.

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

1. Establish Just Play opportunities; including vets provision, and a Disability Just Play Centre.
2. Provide additional programme support for growth in the female game.
3. Provision of recreational football opportunities in Wisbech.
4. Facility development to support high levels of participation in March and Wisbech.

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 Fenland include:

• Cromwell College (two pitches)
• Thomas Clarkson Academy

Cromwell College's pitch is FA registered (meaning it is quality checked and can be used for football match play).

Thomas Clarkson Academy's pitch is no longer on the FA pitch register. This pitch, having been constructed in 2005, is considered in need of refurbishment, and should subsequently be tested and reinstated on the FA pitch register.

Additionally, there are currently two small-sided 3G FTP centres in Fenland:

• Leverington Sports and Social Club (9 v 9)
• Sir Harry Smith Community College (7 v 7)

Of the small-sided pitches, only Leverington Sports and Social Club is floodlit and therefore small-sided provision is limited in meeting the needs of local clubs across the authority.

Fenland has a PPS undertaken in 2016. Due to the age of the PPS, demand for full sized 3G FTPs has been reconsidered for the LLFP using the FA training ratio model 1:38.

On the basis that there are 165 teams in Fenland, there is a requirement for 4.3 full sized 3G FTPs. One pitch at Cromwell College is not floodlit, therefore only two full sized 3G FTPs are considered to be community accessible at present.

This leaves a shortfall of 2.3 full sized 3G FTPs, however, club consultation has highlighted concentrations of clubs currently unable to access sufficient 3G FTP space to meet their training and matchplay needs.

With the geographic spread of existing facilities being uneven - with the 3G FTPs located in the settlements of Wisbech (Thomas Clarkson Academy), Leverington (Leverington Sports and Social Club) and Chatteris (Cromwell College) - and connectivity/accessibility across the authority being identified as a challenge - it is crucial to address geographical gaps in provision.

There is a key provision gap in March which, alongside Wisbech, is one of the two principal market towns in Fenland. Consultation also reveals significant unmet demand in the Whittlesey area. Due to high team numbers in each area who don't currently access 3G FTPs, it is recommended that these shortfalls are addressed via full-sized provision.

Three priority projects for potential investment are identified. Each was selected based upon a rationale of good access, high population, geographic spread, and existing facility quality:

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.

There are currently 13 grass pitch sites in Fenland with three or more full-size pitch equivalents (or with fewer than three pitches but deemed to be of strategic importance).

Since the original LFFP the introduction of PitchPower has allowed all Club owned and leased sites to apply for funding to improve grass pitch maintenance. In Fenland, Manea United Strikers FC have received this funding and the aim now should be to get the pitches up to the 'good' standard and work to sustain them, whilst Leverington Sports and Social Club will undertake improvements to natural grass pitches as a result of grant support for the development of the new 3G FTP.

Further clubs/organisations eligible for Grass Pitch Maintenance Funding include:

• Whittlesey Junior FC (Whittlesey Football Ground)
• Whittlesey Athletic FC (The Danzen Logistics Stadium)
• Wisbech St Mary FC (Wisbech St Mary Sports & Community Centre)
• Doddington FC (Dack Field)
• Estover CIC (Estover Park)
• FC Parson Drove (Main Road)
• Chatteris Town FC
• Elm Road Sports Field

In addition, Cromwell Community College is identified as having community use across both its artificial and natural grass pitches, and is recommended ofr consideration to improve grass pitch quality.

Across these sites, three pitches have been assessed via PitchPower as being good quality, five are of basic quality and two are poor. The first step is to ensure that all remaining pitches have a baseline quality assessment completed via PitchPower. Enhanced maintenance, as influenced by PitchPower report recommendations across these six sites, plus improvements at Leverington Sports and Social Club, will result in quality improvements to 49 pitches.

Ten priority projects for potential investment have been identified. Prioritisation was based on a rationale of selecting sites where pitch quality has been assessed via PitchPower, sites eligible to apply for Grass Pitch Maintenance Funding, and those with the most pitches or that are well utilised.

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.

The majority of key grass pitch sites in Fenland with three or more full-size pitch equivalents (or with fewer than three but deemed to be of strategic importance) have suitable changing rooms, however five sites require improvement/replacement.

There are no key sites in Fenland currently operating with no ancillary facilities, however the need for a 3G FTP is identified in the March area, which will require suitable ancillary facilities to support participation.

One site identified in the last LFFP has not yet been activated but could still benefit from the improvements being progressed, this is Whittlesey Junior Football Club.

Six priority projects for potential investment are identified:

Good facilities are important to all small sided football players, but it is important to understand the different formats of the small-sided game, 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 Fenland the starting point for priority places, identified through previous Local Authority work around deprivation and inactivity, is:

• Wisbech
• Whittlesey
• March
• Chatteris

The key priority groups in Fenland 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 throughout the process and the next step is to now begin community engagement to help identify where the specific sites are that will help to tackle inequalities and provide spaces for activity. Some sites identified through early conversations, and those that need testing through community engagement, are below:

1. West March (development area)
2. The Oasis Community Centre (in proximity to the centre to support activation and engagement)

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

• Fenland District Council
• Cambridgeshire County FA
• Living Sport
• National Governing Bodies of sport, including:
  • England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB)
  • England Hockey
  • The Rugby Football Union (RFU)
  • The Rugby Football League (RFL)
• Chatteris Town FC
• Leverington Sports Youth FC
• Manea United Strikers FC
• March Academy FC
• March Park Rangers Youth FC
• March Town Athletic FC
• March Town United FC
• Whittlesey Athletic FC
• Whittlesey Junior FC