Local Football Facility Plan Maidstone

Maidstone is in the South East Region.

The current population of the Authority (ONS 2019 Mid-Year Estimate) is 170,000. This is expected to rise to 197,430 by 2039.

Maidstone is ranked 28 out of 67 LAs in the region, and 203 out of 317 LAs nationally on the Indices of Multiple Deprivation (ONS).

Its ethnic composition is primarily white (94.1%). This is higher than the national average (85.4%).

The proportion of Maidstone’s population represented by the BAME community is 5.9%. This is significantly below the national average (14.6%)

Local authority

The Maidstone Borough Council Local Plan was adopted in 2017. It sets out the vision and framework for development in the Borough until 2031. With a predicted growing population the Local Plan seeks to ensure that important infrastructure is in place to support future need such as new homes, employment, healthcare, transport and leisure; while protecting the Borough's important and valued green spaces and heritage assets.

The Authority Playing Pitch Strategy was produced in 2018. The key findings and stated overarching priorities identify a current shortfall of 1.27 full size 3G FTPs (calculated using the FA's previous training demand model 1:42). This rises to a future shortfall of two when the new ration (1: 38) is applied. Further to this, the PPS notes that almost 50% of the grass pitch sites in the Authority are served by poor quality or no changing facilities.

County football association

Maidstone is covered by the Kent 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 Charlton FC Community Trust runs a variety of health, education, engagement, football and sporting activities in the local area.

Local leisure operator

The Maidstone Leisure Centre is managed by Maidstone Leisure Trust and Serco Leisure Ltd. There are also two other community sports centres in Maidstone. One is owned and managed by the YMCA. The other is owned and managed by Freedom Leisure.

Local consultation

This has taken place with a broad and diverse set of community groups in Maidstone. 16 individuals (representing 15 local organisations) were spoken to. The agencies consulted include:

• Maidstone Borough Council
• Bearsted FC
• Headcorn 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. Maidstone has a total of 277 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 Maidstone, 11 clubs have more than ten registered teams. These (based upon 2019-20 affiliation data) are:

• Barming Youth - 25 teams
• Bearsted - 23 teams
• Castle Colts – 18 teams
• Headcorn Juniors - 12 teams
• Maidstone United Raiders - 15 teams
• Maidstone United Youth - 15 teams
• MPE - 15 teams
• Roseacre Raiders - 12 teams
• Staplehurst Monarchs Youth - 13 teams
• Vinters - 31 teams
• West Farleigh - 10 teams

*NB Maidstone Utd Senior plus youth & raiders teams comprise 37 teams in total

Leagues

Four leagues cater for clubs and teams in Maidstone. They offer competitive opportunities for adults and youth. While there is no specific league opportunities for disability or women and girls, suitable provision is made in neighbouring areas including Swale. The key local leagues (2018-19) include:

• Maidstone and Mid Kent Sunday F.L – 30 teams – home and away
• Maidstone Boys Primary – 112 teams – home and away
• Maidstone Invicta Primary League – 253 teams – home and away
• Maidstone Minor Football League – 39 teams – home and away

The County FA reports significant cross boundary migration to/from Maidstone primarily due to teams migrating outwards to play in the:

• Ashford & District Football League
• Ashford And District Youth League
• Crowborough & District Junior Football League
• Isthmian Youth Football League
• Kent County Football League
• Kent Disability Football League
• Kent Girls/Ladies Football League
• Kent Youth League
• National League U19 Alliance
• Rochester & District Football League
• Sevenoaks And District Football League
• South East Counties Women's League
• Southern Counties East Football League
• The National League
• West Kent Sunday League

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 Maidstone there are ten 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. Maidstone has two FA Wildcats girls football centres and the priority is to sustain this activity.

At 19, Maidstone’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 to develop playing opportunities for females. The main local girls’ league is the Kent Girls/Ladies Football League in which matches are played on a home and away basis. It is expected to grow its provision in future years. The main local adult female leagues are the Kent Girls/Ladies Football League and South East Counties Women's League. Both play matches on a home and away basis and expect to grow provision in future years.

For talented players, the most local FA Regional Talent Club (RTC) is Gillingham FC located in Swale. 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 Brighton & Hove Albion Women 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.

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 no Futsal teams in Maidstone. It is a priority of the County FA to grow futsal 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 two FA Just Play centres in Maidstone. Walking football sessions are delivered by a range of community organisations such as YMCA and Maidstone United FC. Walking football and Just Play are County FA priorities for further growth and development. Other local recreational football programmes include Soccer Elite FA as well as Kick 2 Fit which is delivered by Kent 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 Maidstone is played throughout the local authority area.

The key strengths of local football in Maidstone include youth and mini soccer. It is recommended that this is sustained and also encouraged to grow further. However, provision gaps include adult male 11v11 teams and informal football sessions. It is, thus recommended that future football development priorities for Maidstone are to:

1. Support the transition of youth teams and players to play in adult male 11v11 leagues.
2. Ensure club and league structures are in place to grow in line with planned housing growth.
3. Develop comprehensive support to volunteers to allow clubs to retain, grow and provide opportunity to all.
4. Increase the level of women and girls provision via provision of informal ladies sessions and FA Wildcats programme.

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 Maidstone. 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 are four full-sized (11v11) 3G FTPs in Maidstone, located at:

• The Lenham School
• The Gallagher Stadium (Maidstone United)
• The Maplesden Noakes School
• Valley Park School

There are no community accessible small sided 3G FTPs in Maidstone, however there is a youth sized pitch located at Maidstone YMCA which is mainly used for recreational use.

A project is being considered that will not involve funding from the Football Foundation at Maidstone Grammar School where the plan is to develop a World Rugby compliant 3G FTP on the site. It is understood that the primary use of this venue will be rugby. The pitch will have a community usage agreement and will allow for local club training sessions and some recreational football.

In addition, the Maidstone Borough Council Local Plan highlights that up to five large housing development sites will be brought to fruition in the future. This includes a potential garden village development in the Lenham area and further development in the Marden area. The exact detail and scale of these housing developments is not, as yet, wholly determined, however, it should be noted that they will have an impact on demand for 3G FTPs right across the Maidstone Borough Council area.

As noted earlier, the Maidstone PPS indicated a present shortfall of 1.27 full size 3G FTPs, and a future shortfall of two. Applying the new FA (1:38) ratio and 2019/20 FA affiliated total team numbers, this rises to two (rounded down from 2.28). The agreed shortfall has, thus, been set at two as, via consultation, it has been decided that this is in line with current demand and can be adjusted in future to reflect additional demand created as a consequence of the proposed housing developments.

All four of the existing full-sized 3G FTPs are available for community use. Those at the Gallagher Stadium, the Maplesden Noakes School and Valley Park School are on the FA Register for 3G FTPs (meaning they are quality checked and can be used for football match play). It is also worth noting that the carpet at Maplesden Noakes School is in poor condition and needs resurfacing. This venue was funded by The Football Foundation in 2008.

The existing community accessible venues are located to the immediate north and south of Maidstone Town Centre and also in the east (Lenham). This means that there are provision gaps in the south of the Borough, as well as a need for further provision to the immediate east of Maidstone town centre. This will serve both affiliated football demand and areas of significant population.

Local consultation confirms common concerns in respect of facility hire costs and the limited opportunity there is to train on 3G. Implementation of this plan will help in addressing this.

Two priority projects for potential investment are identified. Proposed sites were selected based upon a rationale of servicing the affiliated games and catering for key settlements:

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 21 grass pitch sites in Maidstone with three or more full-size pitch equivalents (or with fewer than three pitches but deemed to be of strategic importance). These contain 57 grass pitches. Of these, three are considered to have good quality pitches, 16 have pitches which are mainly of standard quality and two have predominantly poor pitches.

One, Lenham Sports Field (exact location TBC) is a new site which has potential to be developed within the lifespan of the LFFP.

Of the 21 key pitch sites referenced above it was determined that nine should be prioritised for improvements. This will result in quality improvements to 20 pitches:

Nine priority projects for potential investment (including the Lenham Sports Field site) have been identified. Pitch quality rating was evidenced by PPS and ratified by local partners. In general, prioritisation was based on a rationale of selecting sites with pitches that are in poor condition 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 21 key grass pitch sites in Maidstone with three or more full-size pitch equivalents (or with fewer than three pitches but of strategic importance) 15 have suitable changing rooms and five require improvement/replacement and one requires new provision.

In addition to the sites identified above, one new potential site (Lenham Sports Field - site TBC) will also require a new build pavilion

Seven priority projects for potential investment are, thus, 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 that no indoor facilities presently require improvement to develop small-sided football.

Three potential opportunities for MUGAs are identified. They will serve areas of relatively high population which have corresponding high local demand for informal football.

Following local consultation, and assisted by the Sport England green spaces mapping tool one location has 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:

• Club & Media Officer - Maidstone United FC
• Club representative - Barming Youth FC
• Club representative - Bearstead FC
• Club representative - Headcorn Juniors FC
• Club representative - Invicta Sunday (survey)
• Club representative - MPE FC
• Club representative - Staplehurst Monarchs Youth FC
• Club representative - West Farleigh FC
• Club representative - Yalding & Laddingford FC (survey)
• Community Development Officer - Maidstone United FC
• Engagement Manager - Football Foundation
• Football Development Manager - Kent FA
• Fundraising & Partnerships Manager - Kent Sport
• Head of Community - CAFC Community Trust
• Leisure Manager - Maidstone Borough Council
• Parks & Open Spaces Manager - Maidstone Borough Council