Local Football Facility Plan Harrow

Harrow is in the Greater London Region.

The current population of the authority (ONS 2017 Mid-Year Estimate) is 248,880. This is expected to rise to 267,395 by 2039.

Harrow is ranked 28 out of 33 LAs in the Region, and 213 out of 326 LAs nationally on the Indices of Multiple Deprivation (ONS).

Harrow's ethnic composition is 42.59% white. This is significantly lower than the national average (85.4%).

The proportion of Harrow’s population represented by the BAME community is 57.41%. This is significantly above the national average (14.6%).

Local authority

The stated aim of Harrow's Physical Activity and Sports Strategy 2016-20 is to support people who are not doing any activity into doing some, and those doing some activity into doing more. This will be achieved via delivery of a number of objectives, one of which is to increase participation in sport and physical activity in priority groups by improving the accessibility, range and quality opportunities for sport and physical activity. The overarching action for this objective is to improve grass playing pitches, changing facilities and also assess the potential to the installation of artificial grass pitches(AGPs), as per its, now out of date, Outdoor Sports Pitch Strategy (2013).

Harrow's Indoor Facility Strategy was adopted in 2018. The strategy highlights the importance of the AGPs in Harrow in reducing time taken up in sports halls for 5-a-side football.

County football association

Harrow is covered by the Middlesex 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). The Watford FC Community Sports and The Hive Community Trust (Barnet FC) run a variety of health, education, engagement, football and sporting activities in the local area.

Local leisure operator

Everyone Active is the key leisure operator in Harrow. It currently runs a number of key sites including:

• Harrow Leisure Centre
• Bannister Sports Centre
• Hatch End Swimming Pool

Local consultation

This has taken place with a broad and diverse set of community groups in Harrow. 18 individuals (representing 13 local organisations) were spoken to. The agencies consulted include:

• Aspire Hospital
• Young Harrow Foundation
• St Josephs Youth 88
• Pinnstars FC

(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. Harrow has a total of 231 teams, which is lower than 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 Harrow, seven clubs have more than 10 registered teams. These (based upon 2018-19 affiliation data) are:

• Hendon United Youth Internationals FC – 25 teams
• St Josephs FC - 22 teams
• Parkfield FC - 18 teams
• Headstone Manor FC - 15 teams
• Brady Maccabi (Youth) FC – 15 teams
• Harrow St Marys FC -12 teams
• Hadley Rangers FC - 11 teams

Leagues

13 leagues serve clubs and teams in Harrow. They offer competitive opportunities for many different players, including women and girls, youth and adults. While there is no specific league opportunity for disability football within Harrow, suitable provision is made in neighbouring Hillingdon. Harrow’s largest local leagues (2018-19) include:

• Harrow Youth Football League – home and away
• Middlesex County League –home and away

The County FA reports some cross boundary migration to/from Harrow primarily due to teams migrating outwards to play in Hertfordshire.

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 Harrow there is one football team / session specifically for people with a disability. It is a priority of the County FA to grow this provision. For talented players the FA runs regional centres and England national squads.

Women and girls

The FA has big ambitions for the female game and aims to double levels of participation by 2020. To achieve this requires a combined effort across four pathways: education, recreation, competition and talent.

Education environments have a huge impact on the first experience of football for young girls. This pathway can offer many opportunities for females of all ages to develop and grow a lifelong interest in football.

FA Wildcats girls football centres provide the first step on the recreational pathway, the programme provides girls aged 5-11 with regular opportunities to play football in a fun and engaging environment. Harrow has no FA Wildcats girls football centres and the priority is to initiate and grow this activity.

At ten, the number of female teams in Harrow is lower than local areas of a similar size. The County FA’s priority is to support existing clubs to grow and encourage more clubs to develop and provide playing opportunities for females. The local girls’ league is the Capital Girls League in which matches are played on both a home and away and central venue basis. It is expected to grow its provision in future years. The local adult female league is the Greater London Women’s Football League in which matches are played on a home and away basis; it too is expected to grow its provision in future years.

For talented players, the most local FA Regional Talent Club (RTC) is Arsenal which is located in London Colney, Hertfordshire. 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 London Bees 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 Goals Ruislip - Hillingdon

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

There are currently no futsal teams in Harrow. It is a priority for the County FA to grow the sport for all 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 four FA Just Play centres in Harrow. Walking football sessions are delivered by a range of community organisation such as Watford Trust and The Hive Group. Walking football and Just Play are County FA priorities to sustain and develop.

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 Harrow is played, with Cedars Community Centre, The Beacon Centre and Centenary Park being key site locations that are heavily used.

The key strength of local football in Harrow includes youth male provision and it is recommended that this is sustained and also encouraged to grow further. However, gaps in provision do exist; these include the female game and adult male football.

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

1. Youth Female
2. Adult Female
3. Adult Male
4. Adult Recreation
5. Futsal

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 Harrow. 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.

The full-sized (11v11) 3G FTPs in Harrow are located at:

• Harrow School Sports Complex (x1)
• The Hive (Barnet FC) (x2)
• Whitmore High School (x1)
• Rayners Lane FC (x1)

The two 3G FTPs at The Hive are on the FA Register for 3G FTPs (meaning they are quality checked and can be used for football match play). It is strongly recommended that the others are assessed and placed on the Register to enable more match play on 3G.

There are currently five small-sided 3G FTPs in Harrow located at.

• Cedars Youth and Community Centre (one 45x25m)
• Centenary Park Sports Club (two 30x20m)
• Gristwood Centre / Nower Hill High School (one 80x50m)
• Krishna Avanti Primary School (one 70x45)

In addition, The Football Foundation have recently awarded a grant for a new full size 3G FTP at Bannisters Sports Centre (May 2019). Based upon FA demand modelling, and taking into account the proposed new facility at Bannisters Sports Centre, there is a shortfall of six (rounded down from 6.5) full-sized 3G FTP equivalents relative to assessed demand. In addition, the demand for recreational football is higher than affiliated demand. To inform this calculation, in respect of full size 3G FTPs, the modelled supply has been adjusted to reflect the position at the following sites:

• Harrow School Sports Complex - this facility offers only limited community access
• Whitmore High School - this facility only offers limited community access
• Rayners Lane FC - this facility is primarily used by the clubs 1st team and community use is, as a result, limited.

With regard to small sided 3G FTPs, Nower Hill High School has been discounted from the 'supply' due to the fact that it is not floodlit. Supply has also been discounted at Krishna Avanti Primary School as this site does not offer community use.

In addition to the shortfall of full sized 3G FTPs, one small sized 3G FTP requires replacement. This is the one located at Cedars Youth and Community Centre. This previously received investment from the Football Foundation.

The geographic spread of existing facilities is uneven; the majority are located in the east and south of the local area. There are provision gaps in Harrow's central and southern areas despite those areas containing high levels of population and the high levels of deprivation. It is recommended that these are addressed.

Local consultation confirms the common issues with high facility hire costs and limited community access.

Seven priority projects for potential investment are identified. Whilst these do not meet the identified full-sized 3G FTP shortfall (based on affiliated and recreational demand) it is recommended that future iterations of the plan address this if and when land/development opportunity becomes available. Development of the proposed sites will go some way to address provision gaps and in most cases will serve areas with high population, density and substantial deprivation. There is also the potential for some of the demand in Harrow to accommodated on proposed 3G FTPs as part of the LFFP development in neighbouring authorities.

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 ten grass pitch sites in Harrow with three or more full-size pitch equivalents (or with fewer than three pitches but deemed to be of strategic importance). These contain 53 grass pitches. Of these, one is considered to have good quality pitches and nine are of standard / poor quality.

The Bannister Sports Centre site is already being improved without funding via the Football Foundation:

Local consultation confirmed the common issues of poor quality pitches. Consultation also noted the substantial increase in pitch hire costs of local authority pitches for the season 18/19. There is concern that this could have an impact on the future sustainability of local clubs.

Of the ten key pitch sites referenced above it was determined that seven should be prioritised for improvements. This will result in quality improvements to 32 pitches:

Seven priority projects for potential investment are identified. Prioritisation was based on a rationale of selecting sites in the poorest condition that are (or could be) well utilised for football.

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 Harrow with three or more full-size pitch equivalents (or with fewer than three pitches but of strategic importance), five have suitable changing rooms and four sites require improvement/replacement. In addition, one key grass pitch site, William Ellis Sports Ground, is undergoing improvements without funding from the Football Foundation.

In addition to the key sites identified above, should a 3G FTP facility be developed at Roxbourne Park, this will require new changing facilities. Similarly, should a 3G FTP be developed in the South Harrow area this may, dependent upon its exact location, require new changing facilities.

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 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 would benefit from improvement to develop small-sided football.

Three potential opportunities for MUGAs are identified. In each case the rationale is based on the site being in an area of high population density, with a relatively high proportions of people from lower social economic groups and corresponding high local demand for informal football.

Following local consultation, and assisted by the Sport England green spaces mapping tool, two locations are identified to support small sided informal football. Here, the rationale is based on highly popular local parks and open green spaces with suitable space / areas to develop facilities to increase 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:

• Headstone Manor Youth FC
• St Josephs Youth 88 FC - Secretary
• Pinnstars FC - Secretary
• Harrow St Mary's Youth FC - Secretary
• Harrow Youth League - League Chairman
• Gardner Activity Centre - Project Coordinator
• Young Harrow Foundation - Chief Executive
• Everyone Active – Area Contract Manager
• The Helix Centre - Headteacher
• Aspire Hospital - Centre Manager
• Watford FC Community Sports and Education Trust - Head of Community Facilities
• Brentford FC Community Sports Trust - Community Football Development Manager
• London Sport - Relationship Manager
• Principle Community Engagement Officer - Harrow London Borough Council
• School Games Organiser and Project Lead - Harrow London Borough Council
• Service Manager Community Engagement - Harrow London Borough Council
• Sports Development Coordinator - Harrow London Borough Council
• Head of Service - Culture and Leisure - Harrow London Borough Council
• Interim Chief Planning Officer - Harrow London Borough Council