Local Football Facility Plan Hambleton

Hambleton is in the Yorkshire and Humber Region.

The current population of the Authority (ONS 2017 Mid-Year Estimate) is 90,718. This is expected to rise to 91,683 by 2039.

Hambleton is ranked 17 out of 21 LAs in the region, making it the fourth least deprived in the Yorkshire and Humber Region. It is ranked 244 out of 326 LAs nationally (with one being the most deprived) on the Indices of Multiple Deprivation (ONS).

Hambleton's ethnic composition is primarily white (98%). This is higher than the national average (85.4%).

The proportion of Hambleton’s population represented by the BAME community is 2%. This is below the national average (14.6%).

Local authority

Hambleton District Council’s Sports Facilities Strategy (2017-2035) sets out a vision to facilitate development of sustainable, high quality, well-located, accessible sport and leisure facilities and opportunities in partnership, to encourage increased participation in sport and physical activity, and contribute to improved community health and wellbeing outcomes across the District. In achieving this it aims to:

• Increase the amount of regular physical activity undertaken by individuals, and particularly by those who are currently inactive.
• Develop additional facility provision where need is evidenced e.g. as a result of population growth.
• Encourage new participants to start taking part in physical activity.
• Enable opportunities for participation to be provided in a wider range of places and spaces, and particularly at a very local level, open spaces.
• Facilitate the development of healthier lifestyles across Hambleton’s communities.
• Create active environments where the opportunity to be more physically active is an integral part of everyday life.
• Support and provide opportunities for local sports clubs and community groups.

Based on analysis of existing sport and recreation provision a number of principles are set out to underpin future sport and leisure facility development within the District. These are to:

• Ensure that residents in all areas of the District have pay and play access to good quality, local, accessible and affordable provision, whether it is a formal sports hall or a community hall.
• Aim to ensure that existing, and any new, sports facilities on education sites provide a balance of opportunities (through a formal agreement) for community access – both pay and play and club use.
• Replace / refurbish ageing facilities where new provision is needed; all new and refurbished provision should be designed and developed based on Sport England and NGB guidance, and be fully inclusive.
• Rationalise existing provision where new fit for purpose facilities can replace/improve existing buildings (existing levels of sports hall provision need to be maintained as a minimum, given the levels of existing facility under-supply).
• Make better use of all existing facilities, irrespective of provider; an example would be extending access to existing facilities on education sites, which are only operational for limited periods.
• Invest in existing provision to improve quality.
• Invest strategically to ensure economic viability and sustainability of provision.

The Authority Playing Pitch Strategy was produced in 2017. The key findings and stated overarching priorities are to provide more full size 3G FTP provision, with the south of the District referenced as a priority.

County football association

Hambleton is covered by the North Riding 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). There is no active CCO in Hambleton.

Local leisure operator

Hambleton District Council is the key leisure operator in Hambelton. It currently runs four key sites including sports centres (four), small sided 3G FTPs (three), grass pitches (four) and a full size sand dressed artificial grass pitch (AGP).

Local consultation

This has taken place with a broad and diverse set of community groups in Hambleton. 19 individuals (representing 15 local organisations) were spoken to. The agencies consulted include:

• Thirsk School & Sixth Form
• Hambleton and Richomdshire League

(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. Hambleton District has a total of 174 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 Hambleton, five clubs have more than ten registered teams. These (based upon 2018-19 affiliation data) are:

• Bedale Juniors - 20 teams
• Easingwold Town AFC Juniors - 20 teams
• Great Ayton Juniors - 10 teams
• Northallerton Juniors - 12 teams
• Thirsk Falcons - 23 teams

Leagues

Five leagues serve clubs and teams in Hambleton. They offer competitive opportunities for many different players, including [women and girls, youth and adults. The largest of these (2018-19) include:

• Teesside Junior Football Alliance – 775 teams– home and away
• Hambleton & Richmondshire Junior League – 21 teams– home and away
• Hilsprint Hambleton Football Combination – 25 teams– home and away

The County FA reports significant cross boundary migration to/from Hambleton primarily due to teams playing in the TJFA (Teesside).

Disability football

There are 9.4million 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 Hambleton there is one football session specifically for people with a disability and the Authority employees a sport development officer with a specific remit for disability sport. It is a priority of the County FA to grow this provision. For talented players the FA runs regional centres and England national squads. The nearest talent centre in based in Middlesbrough.

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. Hambleton currently has three FA Wildcats girls football centres and the priority is to grow this activity within the district.

At ten, Hambleton’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 North East Girls League in which matches are played on a home and away basis. There is also the York Girls League in which some teams choose to participate. These both expect to grow provision in future years. The local adult female league is the North Riding League; its matches are played on a home and away and it is expected to grow/sustain its provision in future years.

For talented players, the most local FA Regional Talent Club (RTC) is Teesside - located at Teesside University. Higher level talent pathway opportunities are also provided regionally and nationally by the FA, culminating in the England Women’s national squads. Middlesbrough Ladies compete in the FA Women’s National League Northern Premier Division (Tier 3) and provide 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.

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. There are currently no local providers in Hambleton.

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 four football with reduced ball bounce. It is the FA’s aim to ensure that futsal is available across the country.

There are currently ten futsal teams in Hambleton. They play in the Hambleton & Richmondshire League which operates a ‘futsal phase’ as part of its season. It is a priority for the County FA to grow futsal for male, female, youth and 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 Hambleton. Walking football sessions are delivered by a range of community organisation such as AGE UK Walking Football. Walking football and Just Play are County FA priorities for further growth and development.

Informal football

Informal football is played in local parks and green spaces – it is free, open access and often played spontaneously (normal clothing is worn). Common examples include a kick-about at a local park or on a multi-use games area (MUGA).

Currently, informal football in Hambleton is played particularly in the south of the local authority for example at Bullamoor Memorial Park.

The key strengths of local football in Hambleton include strong club based opportunities, a proactive Authority leisure strategy and numerous opportunities for growth in key development areas. It it is recommended that this is sustained and encouraged to grow further. However, gaps do exist, these include growing the game for women and girls, provision for people with disabilities and the recreational offer. It is therefore recommended that the future football development priorities for Hambleton are:

1. Increasing women and girls football
2. Sustaining and growing the affiliated game
3. Grow participation in disability football
4. Ensuring an affiliated futsal offer is available
5. Improve the recreational offer for rurally isolated communities

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

Additionally, each 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 Hambleton. 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 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 is currently no full-sized (11 v 11) 3G FTP in Hambleton. However, there are three small sided 3G FTPs located at Bedale Leisure Centre, Stokesley Leisure Centre and Northallerton Sports Village. All three are available for community use.

The Hambleton 2017 PPS indicates a shortfall of three full size 3G FTPs. This is based on 136 teams and applies the previous FA training ratio model 1:42. Team numbers have since increase to 174. Therefore, based on the new FA training ratio model 1:38 there is a requirement for four full size 3G FTPs. Given that one is due to be developed imminently at Outwood Academy Easingwold with the support of the Football Foundation, this reduces the shortfall to three full-sized 3G FTPs.

It is strongly recommended that any facilities developed going forward are assessed and placed on the FA Register for 3G FTPs (meaning they are quality checked and can be used for football match play) to enable more match play on 3G.

Based on small sided provision alone, there is a gap in 3G provision in the south of the area. Local consultation reveals common issues with limited availability due to the absence of full-sized provision in the District and subsequent long travel distances to access facilities. It is recommended that these are addressed.

Three priority projects for potential investment are identified. Each was selected based upon a rationale of serving key settlements and catering better for affiliated and recreational football demand.

Aforementioned, a full size 3G FTP is due to be developed at Outwood Academy Easingwold imminently. It is anticipated that the pitch will be operational by the middle of 2020.

It is important to ensure that development of any 3G FTP provision does not impact on other sports in the area through loss of grass pitch, non turf wicket or sand based AGP provision. To ensure this, consultation should be undertaken with the required NGBs and Sport England as part of any proposed 3G FTP project.

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 ten grass pitch sites in Hambleton with three or more full-size pitch equivalents (or with fewer than three pitches but deemed to be of strategic importance). These contain 42 grass pitches. Of these, two are considered to have good quality pitches and eight are of standard quality.

In addition to the ten sites noted above, one brand new site; Sowerby Sports Village, will require the maintenance regime provided as part of the PIP to be actioned. There is potential for this to be part of a wider PIP with Thirsk School & Sixth Form. In addition to this, the Northallerton Sport Village will provide additional grass pitch provision over and above that already in place at Northallerton Leisure Centre.

Local consultation would suggest broad club satisfaction with pitch quality while acknowledging that there is some room for improvement.

Of the eleven key pitch sites referenced above (including Sowerby Sports Village), it was determined that of these seven should be prioritised. This will result in quality improvements to 25 pitches:

Seven priority projects for potential investment are identified. Pitch quality rating was evidenced by the PPS and ratified by local partners. Prioritisation was based on a rationale of selecting sites that had the most pitches and were 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 ten key grass pitch sites in Hambleton with three or more full-size pitch equivalents (or with fewer than three but deemed to be of strategic importance) six have suitable changing rooms, three require improvement/replacement facilities and one needs a new pavilion.

In addition to the ten key sites identified here, the new site noted in the grass pitches section; Sowerby Sports Village will also require a new build pavilion.

Five 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 indicates one indoor facility that require improvement to develop small-sided football. This is Northallerton Sports Village/Northallerton Leisure Centre - an existing site which is due to be redeveloped as part of a housing development. This will provide increased leisure opportunity. The Hambleton & Richmondshire Junior League has highlighted a need for futsal provision in the South of the District for its league, which runs from November to February. It referenced Northallerton specifically and such, this site may provide an opportunity.

Two potential opportunities for MUGAs are identified, these are:

1. Bullamoor Memorial Park - a site located in an area of deprivation. The North Yorkshire Police headquarters is close by and the the Force is keen to deliver more community engagement activity. This could be an ideal location given improvements to the MUGA.
   
2. East Thirsk Community Hall/Primary School - this is a primary school located in an area of deprivation which has a community space on site which has the potential to be a small sided facility used by the school and community groups. This includes groups that may participate in walking football.

Following local consultation, no locations in addition to those above have been identified to support small sided informal 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:

• Bedale Juniors - Secretary
• Bedale Leisure Centre - Centre Manager
• Great Ayton Juniors - Secretary
• Hambleton District Council - Communities Manager
• Hambleton District Council - Inclusive Sports Officer
• Hambleton and Richomdshire League - Chairman
• Football Foundation - Engagement Manager
• Northallerton Leisure Centre - Centre Manager
• North Riding County FA - Football Development Manager
• North Yorkshire County Council - Strategic Planning Team
• North Yorkshire County Council - Health Improvement Manager
• North Yorkshire Sport - Head of Development
• North Yorkshire Police
• RFU - Area Facilities Manager
• Sport England - Planning Manager
• Stokesley Leisure Centre - Centre Manager
• Thirsk Falcons - Secretary
• Thirsk School and Sixth Form College
• Thirsk & Sowerby Leisure Centre - Centre Manager