Local Football Facility Plan Guildford

Guildford is in the South East region.

The current population of the authority (ONS 2017 Mid-Year Estimate) is 147,777. This is expected to rise to 167,126 by 2034*

Guildford is ranked 51 out of 67 LAs in the region, and 304 out of 326 LAs nationally on the Indices of Multiple Deprivation (ONS).

Guildford's ethnic composition is primarily white (90.9%). This is higher than the national average (85.4%).

The proportion of Guildford’s population represented by the BAME community is 9.1%. This is below the national average (14.6%)

*Future population projections are based on Guildford Borough Council Local Plan data.

Local authority

The Guildford Borough Council Health and Wellbeing Strategy (2017-2022) outlines four outcomes relating to physical activity to get Guildford residents active, these are to:

• Increase the number of people achieving the recommended amount of physical activity.
• Reduce the number of physically inactive adults.
• Reduce the levels of childhood obesity.
• Reduce social isolation.

The Guildford Borough Council Sport Development Strategy 2016-2021 outlines four key outcomes:

1. Enhance the health and wellbeing of local residents through widened access to quality sport
2. Increase the activity levels of local residents, targeting those who are less active
3. Improve local sports facilities to maximise the use for sport and active leisure
4. Worked in partnership to widen the opportunities for coach and volunteer development.

The Surrey County Council Community Health 2030 Vision aspires to Surrey being 'a uniquely special place where everyone has a great start to life, people live healthy and fulfilling lives, are enabled to achieve their full potential and contribute to their community, and no one is left behind'. Its stated ambitions are that:

• Children and young people are safe and feel safe and confident.
• Everyone benefits from education, skills and employment opportunities that help them succeed in life.
• Everyone lives healthy, active and fulfilling lives, and makes good choices about their wellbeing.
• Everyone gets the health and social care support and information they need at the right time and place.
• Communities are welcoming and supportive, especially of those most in need, and people feel able to contribute to community life.

The Local Authority does not have a playing pitch strategy in place. It has indicative plans to commission one in 2020.

County football association

Guildford is covered by the Surrey 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 Chelsea Foundation, runs a variety of health, education, engagement, football and sporting activities in the local area. Further to this, both the Fulham FC Foundation and Working Cardinals in the Community operate within the area.

Local leisure operator

There is one key leisure centre site in the authority; the Guildford Spectrum. This is managed by Freedom Leisure. It is not, at present, a key strategic site for football, but it has aspirations to have an improved football offer in the future.

Local consultation

This has taken place with a broad and diverse set of community groups in Guildford. 18 individuals (representing 12 local organisations) were spoken to. The agencies consulted include:

• Surrey FA
• Guildford Borough Council
• Football Foundation
• Surrey Sports Park

(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. Guildford has a total of 220 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 10-years there has been a significant national increase in the number of large multi-team football clubs. In Guildford, eight clubs have more than 10 registered teams. These (based upon 2018-19 affiliation data) are:

• Horsley - 36 teams
• Albury Youth - 28 teams
• Guildford City boys and girls - 21 teams
• Guildford Saints boys and girls - 21 teams
• Onslow 14 teams
• Burpham Juniors - 14 teams
• Worplesdon Rangers - 11 teams
• Ash Community - 11 teams

Leagues

16 leagues cater for clubs and teams in Guildford. They offer competitive opportunity for many different players, including women and girls, disability, youth and adults. While there is no specific league opportunity for disability football within Guildford, suitable provision is made in neighbouring, Elmbridge, through the Surrey Football For All League. .

The larger local leagues serving Guildford (2018-19) include:

• Surrey Primary Youth League – 78 teams– home and away
• South Surrey Youth League – 39 teams– home and away
• Guildford & Woking Alliance (adult) – 16 teams– home and away

The County FA reports some cross boundary migration in and out of Guildford due to its proximity to Aldershot and Surrey Heath.

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 Guildford there are three football teams / sessions specifically for people with a disability. It is a priority of the County FA to sustain 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. Guildford has two FA Wildcats girls football centres and the priority is to grow and sustain this activity.

With ten teams, Guildford’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 clubs to develop playing opportunities for females. The local girls’ league is the Surrey County Women's and Girls League in which matches are played on a home and away basis. It is expected to grow its provision in future years. Further to this, Surrey FA operates a small sided 7v7 ladies league, with matches played on a home and away basis and this league is also expected to grow its provision in future years.

For talented players, the most local FA Regional Talent Club (RTC) is Chelsea FC which is located in Elmbridge. 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 Chelsea FC 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:

• Play Football – Surrey Sports Park
• PowerPlay – Broadwater School

Futsal is an exciting, fast-paced, small sided team game that is widely played across the world. Typically it is played on an indoor surface with hockey-sized goals and a size 4 football with reduced ball bounce. It is the FA’s aim to ensure that futsal is available across the country.

There is currently one futsal team in Guildford. It plays in the BUCS League at Surrey Sports Park. It is a priority for the County FA to grow futsal for male/ female/ 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 no FA Just Play centres in Guildford. Walking football sessions are delivered by a range of community organisation such as Guildford Walking Football and Guildford Saints Football Club. Walking football and Just Play are County FA priorities for further growth and development. Other local recreational football programmes include casual bookings, local leagues and the Surrey FA Business League; these are delivered by a range of organisations including Play Football, Power Play, and Surrey FA.

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 Guildford is played throughout the Borough, particular hot spots are cited in the central and west of the authority which have a higher population density . Stoke Park and Surrey Sports Park are key well used site locations.

The key strengths of local football in Guildford include leagues, both adult and youth male through leagues and small sided provision and it is recommended that this is sustained and also encouraged to grow further. However, gaps in provision do exist, these include disability (impairment specific), women and girls football and futsal. It is therefore recommended that the future football development priorities for Guildford are:

1. Women and girls
2. Futsal
3. Disability football (impairment specific)

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 Guildford. 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.

There are full-sized (11 v 11) 3G FTPs in Guildford at:

• Ash Manor School
• Kings College
• Surrey Sports Park (x2)

There are also three small-sided 3G FTPs located at:

• Cranmore School
• George Abbot School
• Toms Field (Horsley FC)

There is an outline plan to develop a 91m x 55m artificial grass pitch as part of the redevelopment of Howard Effingham School. This does not indicate what type of surface the pitch will have, or whether it will be floodlit. This development is proceeding without Football Foundation investment. This site/pitch may be reviewed in the future dependent on its design specification and potential football outcomes. The school site borders Mole Valley and would mainly service demand from Mole Valley residents.

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 220 teams in Guildford there is a requirement for 5.7 full sized 3G FTPs. There are currently four and there is thus a shortfall of 1.7. This has been rounded up to two full size 3G FTPs on the basis of the limited availability of pitches at Surrey Sports Park. Further to this, it has been decided that to reflect future housing growth in the Borough, the estimated shortfall should be raised to three full sized 3G FTPs. The completion of a PPS will allow more detailed analysis to further guide suitable areas/projects for 3G FTP investment.

All four existing pitches are available for community use and are on the FA Register for 3G FTPs (meaning they are quality checked and can be used for football match play).

The geographic spread of existing facilities is even (relative to localised demand for football). The majority are located in the central and west of the local area. There are provision gaps in Guildford but demand is not presently considered to be sufficient to warrant creation of additional 3G FTP provision in these localities.

Local consultation reveals common issues with both high facility hire charges and limited availability; it is recommended that these issues are addressed.

Three priority projects for potential investment are identified. These are proposed based upon the rationale that they will address provision gaps, service existing unmet demand from affiliated football and cater for areas with significant population density:

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, many 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 14 grass pitch sites in Guildford with three or more full-size pitch equivalents (or with fewer than three pitches but deemed to be of strategic importance). These contain 49 grass pitches.

Of the 14 key pitch sites referenced above it was determined that five should be prioritised for improvements. This will result in quality improvements to 18 pitches.

Further to the above, upon finalisation of the Guildford Playing Pitch Strategy (likely to be commissioned in 2020) it is likely that additional sites will be identified for investment.

Five priority projects for potential investment are identified. Prioritisation was informed by local partners with the rationale of selecting sites in the poorest condition, that had the most pitches and that are, or have the potential to be, best-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.

Of the 14 key grass pitch sites in Guildford with three or more full-size pitch equivalents (or with fewer than three pitches but of strategic importance), five have suitable changing rooms, eight sites require improvement/replacement and one site has no facilities but requires toilets and storage facilities to better facilitate mini and youth football.

Nine 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 reveals that there are no indoor facilities that require improvement to develop small sided football.

Four potential opportunities for MUGAs have been identified. In each case the rationale is based on the site being in an area of significant population density with locally relatively high proportions of people from lower social economic groups and corresponding high demand for informal football:

One project has been identified to support small sided informal football. This project reflects work undertaken by Guildford Borough Council and its aspirations to deliver outreach work throughout the authority area.

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:

• Guildford Borough Council - Planning Officers
• Guildford Borough Council - Public Health
• Guildford Borough Council - Community Leisure Manager
• Guildford Borough Council - Community Well being Officer
• Guildford Borough Council - Leisure Services Manager
• Guildford Borough Council - Sports Development Officer
• Guildford Borough Council - Parks & Landscape Manager
• Surrey FA - Football Development Manager
• Football Foundation - Engagement Officer
• Horsley FC - Club Secretary
• Guildford Saints Girls - Club Secretary
• Mychett Athletic FC - Club Secretary
• Burpham Colts FC - Club Secretary
• Guildford City FC - Club Secretary
• Merrist Wood College - Director of Football
• Ash United FC - Club Secretary
• Worplesdon Rangers FC - Club Secretary
• Surrey Sports Park - Sports Development Manager