Local Football Facility Plan Kingston upon Hull

Kingston upon Hull is in the Yorkshire and Humber region.

The current population of the Authority (ONS 2017 Mid-Year Estimate) is 260,673. This is expected to rise to 266,712 by 2039.

Kingston upon Hull is ranked as the most deprived out of 21 LAs in the region, and 9th out of 326 LAs nationally on the Indices of Multiple Deprivation (ONS).

Kingston upon Hull's ethnic composition is primarily white (94%). This is higher than to the national average (85.4%).

The proportion of Kingston Upon Hull’s population represented by the BAME community is 6%. This is below the national average (14.6%)

Levels of inactivity, at 31% are above both the regional (28%) and national (26%) averages.

Local authority

'Towards an Active Hull' is the City's Sport & Physical Activity strategy 2018-28. Its primary focus is on getting the inactive active. Key stated priorities are to:

• Reduce the level of inactive children and adults that live in Hull, contributing to improved health outcomes.
• Create a culture where people of all ages choose to become more physically active as part of their day to day lives.
• Reduce the inequalities in physical activity levels in Hull.
• Embed the promotion of physical and mental health benefits that physical activity provides via the advice provided by healthcare specialists, teachers, professionals working to support families and those working in the leisure sector.
• Maximise the City's fantastic local sport and recreational assets and use them to their full potential.
• Ensure that all (Hull's) built environments support people taking part in physical activity.
• Motivate 10,000 adults to move from inactive to active.
• Become a leading city for sporting excellence, champion local sporting heroes and celebrate the success of local teams.
• Recognise sport and physical activity as a contributor to economic development and regeneration.

The local authority does not have a current playing pitch strategy (PPS) in place.

County football association

Kingston Upon Hull is covered by the East 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.

The Institute of Groundsman are commissioned by the FA to provide support to the East Riding County FA, through the Regional Pitch Advisor. The IOG Advisor undertakes independent technical grass football pitch inspections and provides recommendations to improve the grass pitches. This could be recommendations of new machinery, maintenance schedules as well as other improvement works.

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.

County Sport Partnership

Kingston Upon Hull is covered by Active Humber, the Active Partnership for the County area, which has a remit to support people of all ages and backgrounds to improve their health & wellbeing by taking part in regular physical activity and sport; working to and supporting Sport England’s Towards an Active Nation strategy at a county level.

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 Tigers Sport & Education Trust (Hull City AFC) runs a variety of health, education, engagement, football and sporting activities within the local area.

The Trust is a registered charity linked to Hull City Football Club that endeavours to establish a sustainable impact in communities in which it works. The Trust is open to opportunities to partner with facility owners (schools, local football clubs and leisure providers) to maximise funding and deliver more activity. The Trust prioritises areas based on the outcomes that could be achieved i.e. progression in football and sport, improved health and wellbeing, improved academic attainment and employability skills, reduced crime and anti-social behaviour.

The Trust provides coaching services in primary schools to children of all abilities and encourages participation outside of school by placing holiday activities in clusters of partner schools. Within the clusters, the Trust will link with local grassroots clubs to provide further progression.

Local leisure operator

Leisure facilities in Kingston Upon Hull are operated by Hull Culture & Leisure (HCAL), a limited company wholly owned by Hull City Council. It currently runs the City's indoor sports provision and is responsible for booking of grass pitch football sites. HCAL have recently developed the City's Sport & Physical Activity strategy - 'Towards an Active Hull'.

Local consultation

This has taken place with a broad and diverse set of community groups in Kingston Upon Hull. 21 individuals (representing 16 local organisations) were spoken to. The agencies consulted include:

• The Goodwin Development Trust
• Hessle Road Network
• Friends of Pelican Park
• University of Hull
• Hull College

(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. Kingston Upon Hull has a total of 344 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 Kingston Upon Hull, seven clubs have more than 10 registered teams. These (based upon 2017-18 affiliation data) are:

• Hull City - 11 teams
• Hull United AFC -23 teams
• Costello - 26 teams
• Hall Road Rangers - 23 teams
• Pelican United Juniors - 10 teams
• Priory F.C- 10 teams
• Springhead - 10 teams

Leagues

Fifteen leagues operate in East Riding County FA . They offer competitive opportunities for many different players, including women and girls, disability, youth and adults.East Riding County FA largest local leagues (2017-18) include:

• Youth League – 499 teams– home and away
• County League – 66 teams– home and away
• Girls League – 56 teams– home and away

The County FA reports that there is significant cross boundary migration in East Riding County FA due to teams migrating outwards from East Riding to use 3G FTPs in Kingston Upon Hull.

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 Kingston Upon Hull there are 14 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.

In respect of Powerchair Football this is played at the new state of the art University of Hull Sports Hall facility. Meanwhile the Community Inclusion League and Ability Counts League's are also hosted by the University of Hull.

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.

At 18, Kingston Upon Hull'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 East Riding Girls League and matches are played on a home and away basis. The league is expected to grow its provision in future years. The local adult female league is the East Riding Women’s League and matches are played on a home and away and the league is expected to sustain its provision in future years.

For talented players, the most local FA Regional Talent Club (RTC) is York City Foundation and Leeds United, Sheffield United and Doncaster Belles which are located in York, Leeds, Sheffield and Doncaster, respectively. 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 Hull City Ladies 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:

• Hull and East Riding Futsal League - organised by Hull and East Riding Futsal Club

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 Futsal is available across the country.

There are currently six futsal teams in East Riding County FA that play in the Hull and East Riding Youth Futsal League at key site locations including the University of Hull and Warner’s Leisure. It is a priority for the County FA to grow Futsal for male, female youth 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 five FA Just Play Centres in East Riding County FA. Walking football sessions are delivered by a range of community organisations such as local football clubs. Walking football and Just Play are areas that the County FA has prioritised for further growth and development. Other local recreational football programmes include Flexible Floodlight Football League, Man vs Fat, pro-club community scheme activity, casual bookings which are delivered by a range of organisations including East Riding County FA, Tigers Sport and Education Trust, Hull Indoor Sports Centre, Soccer Sensations and Goals.

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 is played throughout the City.

The key strengths of local football in Kingston Upon Hull include adult male and youth / mini soccer provision and it is recommended that this is sustained and also encouraged to grow further. However, there are aspects of football provision that lower than local authorities of a similar size] these include female and disability provision.

It is therefore recommended that the future football development priorities for Kingston Upon Hull are:

1. Male and female participation
2. Disability football participation
3. Coaching development
4. Referee development
5. Improved grass pitches

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 Kingston Upon Hull. 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 inline 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 ten existing full-sized (11 v 11) 3G FTPs in Kingston Upon Hull. These are located at:

• University of Hull Sports & Fitness Centre x 2
• Malet Lambert School
• Sirius Academy
• The Academy at St Mary's College
• Andrew Marvell College
• Kingswood College of Arts
• Steve Prescott Centre (Hull College)
• Hull Arena
• Kelvin Hall School

In addition, there are currently four small-sided 3G FTP centres in Kingston Upon Hull:

• Soccer Sensations
• Goals Soccer Centre (Hull)
• Soccer Kings
• Hull Indoor Sports Centre

Six of the existing full size FTPs in Hull were developed as part of the Building Schools for the Future programme under design & build contracts during 2010-12. Each is likely to be due for a resurface during the life of the LFFP. At Hull arena (Kcom Stadium site), the indoor FTP is proposed to be replaced with an outdoor full size FTP on the site of current water based artificial grass pitch (AGP) .

As noted earlier, there is no current PPS and demand for full sized 3G FTPs has, as a consequence, been calculated using the FA training ratio model (1:38). On the basis that there are 344 teams in Kingston Upon Hull, there is a requirement for nine full sized 3G FTPs. There are currently ten full sized 3G FTPs in Kingston upon Hull, resulting in there being no current provision shortfall. The focus of the LFFP is, thus, on resurfacing the current stock, and in the case of the Kcom Stadium , reconfiguring current provision to better meet football development needs.

All of the full-sized 3G FTPs are available for community use. They are also all on the FA Register for 3G FTPs (meaning they are quality checked and can be used for football match play). The one exception to this is Sirius Academy.

The geographic spread of existing facilities is relatively even. Local consultation reveals that there are issues around affordability of the existing full size 3G pitches , and that greater flexibility in terms of access to 9 v 9 marked FTPs would enable better delivery of the ERCFA disability and women & girls football programmes.

Seven priority projects for potential investment are identified. These comprise six academy school resurfaces and one conversion - of the water based AGP at the Kcom stadium. Each project is based in an area of high relative deprivation.

There are currently 21 grass pitch sites in Kingston Upon Hull with three or more full-size pitch equivalents (or with fewer than three but deemed to be of strategic importance). These contain 91 grass pitches.

Of the 21 key pitch sites referenced above, seven are prioritised for improvements, affecting a total of 33 pitches.

Local consultation shows common issues with poor quality and it is recommended that this is addressed. Consultation also revealed that adult Sunday football on grass is experiencing a decline in the area.

Hull City Council operates an early warning system in respect of pitch cancellations which consultation found to be well regarded amongst local leagues. The Council intend to use commuted sum payments as a mechanism to support the long term (25 year) maintenance of grass pitches and will work with the County FA to jointly invest in grounds maintenance machinery.

Seven priority projects for potential investment are identified. Pitch quality rating was evidenced by consultation with clubs and leagues and qualified by the LFFP steering group. Prioritisation was informed by local partners with the rationale of selecting sites in the poorest condition and with a strategic focus to improve HCC / club pitches.

It was also agreed by the steering group that the provision of new grass pitch maintenance equipment was necessary in order to assist Hull City Council in implementing the strategic grass pitch improvement priorities of the LFFP.

Of the 21 key grass pitch sites in Kingston Upon Hull with three or more full-size pitch equivalents (or with fewer than three but demed to be of strategic importance), 17 have suitable changing rooms, two sites require improvement/replacement and two have no facilities and require new changing rooms.

The proposed new, additional 3G FTP at the Kcom stadium will also require a new build pavilion and office facilities to accommodate Tigers Trust Foundation activity.

Five priority projects for potential investment are identified. Prioritisation was informed by local partners with the rationale of selecting sites which are deemed to have an unsuitable pavilion requiring replacement or refurbishment, or sites requiring new provision to support participation or other facility development:

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 no indoor facilities presently require improvement to develop small sided football.

Consultation did however find that there is unmet demand in respect of access to indoor sports hall space for futsal.

Following consultation with Hull City Council youth services, seven potential opportunities for MUGAs have been identified. In each case the rationale is based on the site being in an area of high urban population with limited green space and a relatively high proportion of people from lower social economic groups plus corresponding high local demand for informal football.

Each location has been chosen due to its co-location with Hull CC youth provision and / or community operated facilities . Consultation confirms that a short-pile, harder wearing 3G surface is likely to be appropriate in each case due to the likelihood of multi-sport use at these sites.

Following local consultation no locations are presently identified to support small sided informal football.

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

• CEO - East Riding CFA
• Chairman - East Riding CFA
• Disability football development officer - East Riding CFA
• Partnership & Project Manager (Sport) - Hull University
• Representative - Wyke College
• Representative - Hull College
• Youth Work Manager - Hull City Council
• Youth Team Manager - Goodwin Trust
• Community Manager - Hull Kingston Rovers RFC
• Manager - Hessle Road Network
• Manager - Child Dynamix
• Chair - Friends of Pelican Park
• Parks & Open Spaces development manager - Hull City Council
• Club Representative - Kingswood FC
• Club representative - Pelican Rangers FC
• Club representative - Pelican Utd FC
• Club representative - Hall Rd Rangers
• Secretary - Hull Sunday League
• Secretary - Humber Premier League
• Secretary - East Riding Veterans League
• Secretary - East Riding Futsal League