Local Football Facility Plan New Forest

The New Forest is in the South Region.

The current population of the Authority (ONS 2018 Mid-Year Estimate) is 178,900. This is expected to rise to 187, 966 by 2039.

The New Forest is ranked 34 out of 67 LAs in the region, and 241 out of 317 LAs nationally on the Indices of Multiple Deprivation (ONS).

Its ethnic composition is primarily white (97.5%). This is higher than the national average (85.4%).

The proportion of the New Forest’s population represented by the BAME community is 2.5%. This is substantially below the national average (14.6%)

Local authority

The New Forest Council Corporate Plan vision is to secure a vibrant and prosperous authority, guided by the people it serves and to work in partnership to enhance the quality of lives for all by:

• Understanding local needs and creating a balanced, healthy community who feel safe, supported and have access to services;
• Protecting the special character of the New Forest and responding pro-actively to environmental challenges; and
• Working with others to maintain a vibrant local economy that brings opportunities to the area.

To create a healthy community, one of the key Authority priorities is to provide affordable and accessible leisure facilities and to create a leisure facilities strategy to ensure that the infrastructure exists to enable increased levels of physical activity.

The Authority does not have a playing pitch strategy in place.

County football association

The New Forest is covered by the Hampshire 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). AFC Bournemouth in the Community deliver a variety of health, education, engagement, football and sporting activities in the local area. The key priority for the Foundation is to secure a site, which in turn, will allow it to centralise and expand its programme offer. Ringwood Town FC is the current preferred site; this is mentioned as a priority project in this plan.

Local leisure operator

There is no external leisure operator for community football facilities in the New Forest. All facilities are managed directly by the Authority.

Local consultation

This has taken place with a broad and diverse set of community groups in the New Forest. 20 individuals (representing 20 local organisations) were spoken to. The agencies consulted include:

• New Forest District Council
• A range of local affiliated clubs
• A number of educational establishments

(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. The New Forest has a total of 354 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 the New Forest, 13 clubs have more than 10 registered teams. These are, based upon 2019/20 affiliation data:

• Bransgore Youth - 11
• Brockenhurst Youth - 12
• Fawley Falcons Youth - 19
• Fordingbridge Turks- 16
• Hythe & Dibden Youth- 32
• Lymington Town FC Sprites- 15
• Marchwood Rangers- 10
• New Milton Town Robins- 15
• Pace Youth - 41
• Ringwood Town Youth - 28
• Sway Juniors Youth - 10
• Totton & Eling Youth- 14
• Winsor United Youth - 27

Leagues

Eight leagues cater for clubs and teams in the New Forest offering competitive opportunities for youth and adults males. These are:

• Eastleigh and District Mini Soccer League- central venue
• Southampton Tyro League- home and away/central venue
• City of Southampton Sunday Football League - home and away
• Southampton Saturday Football League - home and away
• Bournemouth Saturday League – home and away
• Bournemouth Sunday League – home and away
• Bournemouth Youth League – home and away
• New Forest Youth League - home and away/central venue

Female and disability league provision is delivered on a county basis.

The County FA reports that significant cross boundary migration to/from Eastleigh and Bournemouth primarily due to teams playing in either large central venue leagues or in adult leagues.

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 the New Forest there are three 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.

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. The New Forest has eight FA Wildcats girls football centres and the priority is to grow this activity.

At 30, the New Forest’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 Hampshire Girls Youth League in which matches are played on a home and away and central venue basis. It is expected to grow provision in future years. The local adult female league is the Hampshire County Women’s League. Its matches are played on a home and away basis and it also expects to grow provision in future years.

For talented players, the most local FA Regional Talent Club (RTC) is Southampton. 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 Reading 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. The only local provider is Gang Warily Recreation & Community Centre

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.

Currently 11 affiliated futsal teams in the New Forest play in the New Forest Futsal League. It is a priority for the County FA to further 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 three FA Just Play centres in the New Forest.Walking football sessions are delivered by a range of community organisation including Lymington FC and Bransgore FC . 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 the New Forest is played particularly in the east of the Authority. Netley View and Blackfield Neighbourhood Centre are key well-used site locations.

The key strengths of local football in the New Forest include adult male and youth football; this should be sustained and encouraged to grow further. However, provision gaps include women and girls, disability and recreational football opportunity. It is therefore recommended that the future football development priorities for the New Forest are to:

1. Sustain male youth and adult football
2. Increase the number of women's and girls teams.
3. Continue to grow futsal participation.
4. Increase the number of Just Play centres.
5. Support the development of disability opportunity.

The facilities required to assist this are now set out in the Assets and opportunities section. Priority projects that progress to become a funding application via the Football Foundation produce detailed ‘site development plans’ specifying all football development activity, usage and key partner engagement.

This section reviews existing football facility assets in the New Forest. It identifies current issues and presents opportunities for improvements, including a list of priority projects for potential investment. Local assets and opportunities have been reviewed in line with four investment priorities:

• 3G FTPs
• Improved grass pitches
• Changing room pavilions / clubhouses
• Small sided facilities

To ensure a consistent and high quality approach, each local area has been reviewed applying a standard approach, supplemented by input from consultation with local partners and stakeholder organisations.

While each investment priority is reviewed individually, it is understood that they can be inter-reliant; account is, thus, taken of these potential connections.

3G FTPs are a high quality and indispensable part of modern football facilities; their impact cannot be underestimated. In recent years the industry has seen major innovations and improvements to artificial surfaces (and sports lighting). This has created playing surfaces that replicate a good standard natural turf pitch whilst significantly increasing levels of use (x20). All FTPs must have sports lighting to achieve this.

The high quality, consistent playing surface is the ideal environment to play the game and for young people to learn. With regular maintenance programmes, FTPs can be heavily used all year round with no decline in quality. They almost completely negate annoying fixture cancellations during winter months, helping football to be a key part of a regular physical activity habit.

High capacity levels offer a great opportunity to embrace all formats and engage all participants. A full-sized 3G caters for an average of 1,200 participants per week and is suitable for various location types. That means being fully inclusive to all sections of the community, with a particular focus on under-represented groups such as women and girls, people with a disability, BAME communities and people from lower socio-economic groups.

The way 3G FTPs are used is rapidly changing; current line-marking systems allow for match play across all formats of football (5v5, 7v7, 9v9 and 11v11). This enables significant levels of match-play to be transferred from grass to 3G.

There are two full-sized (11 v 11) 3G FTPs in the New Forest located at:

• Testwood School.
• Applemore College.

There are also two small-sided 3G FTP centres at:

• Gang Warily Recreation & Community Centre - three 5v5 3G FTPs (0.75)
• Noadswood School - one 7v7 3G FTP (0.5)

There is no current PPS and, therefore, demand for full sized 3G FTPs has been calculated using the FA training ratio model 1:38.

On the basis that there are 354 teams in the New Forest, there is a requirement for nine full sized 3G FTPs. There are currently 3.25 full sized equivalents and the shortfall is, thus, six.

In addition, one of the existing full sized 3G FTPs and the 7v7 3G FTP require upgrading with new carpets.

All existing 3G venues are available for community use and Applemore College is on the FA Register for 3G FTPs (meaning it is quality checked and can be used for football match play). It is strongly recommended that the remaining venues are assessed and placed on the Register to enable more match play on 3G.

The two full-sized pitches are located in the east of the Authority. There are no facilities in the south and west despite the strong level of demand from affiliated football. Clubs in these areas are utilising sand-dressed facilities to meet training demand. These include Fordingbridge Turks, which has to train on what is reportedly a poor quality sand-dressed pitch at Burgate School.

Consultation suggests that the two facilities in the east are at capacity not only because of local demand, but also demand imported from Southampton clubs. The consensus is that additional provision is also needed in this part of the Authority. The presence of the New Forest National Park , and associated planning constraints limit the amount of land available for development in respect of new 3G provision. To mitigate the shortfall, five strategic areas surrounding the National Park are identified as potential site locations for 3G FTP development. These are:

• North West- Fordingbridge
• South West- Ringwood
• South- New Milton/Lymington
• South East- Fawley
• North East- Totton

Following consultation with clubs and strategic stakeholders, sites within these areas have been identified. In general, it is calculated that one pitch per area is required when amalgamating team numbers although, due to the strong affiliated club presence on the south coast, there is thought to be a need for two in this area.

Six new pitches across five sites are identified. In addition, both Testwood School's (full sized) and Noadswood School's (7v7 3G FTP) pitches require resurfacing. The Steering Group identified four key sites for new pitches, however, further feasibility in the south of the Authority is required, where a larger site is needed to accommodate the proposed two new full sized 3G FTPs.

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 23 grass pitch sites in the New Forest with three or more full-size pitch equivalents (or with fewer than three pitches but deemed to be of strategic importance). These contain 68 grass pitches. Of these, five are considered to have good quality pitches and 18 are deemed to be of poor quality.

Of the 23 key pitch sites referenced above it was determined that all 18 of those rated poor quality should be prioritised. This will result in quality improvements to 49 pitches:

18 priority projects for potential investment are identified. Pitch quality ratings were evidenced via club consultation and County FA pitch improvement reports and ratified by local partners.

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 23 key grass pitch sites in New Forest with three or more full-size pitch equivalents (or with fewer than three but deemed to be of strategic importance) 20 have suitable changing rooms (or don't require any) and three require improvement/replacement.

Three 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 that, at present, no indoor facilities require improvement to develop small sided football.

Two potential opportunities to develop MUGAs are identified. In each case the rationale is based on the site being in an area of significant population with relatively high proportions of people from lower social economic groups and corresponding high local demand for informal football. In addition, organisations such as the Handy Trust will be able to animate and deliver programmes of activity at these sites to support the local communities.

Local consultation indicates that, at present, no parks and open green spaces require improvement to develop small sided 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:

New Forest School Sports Coordinator

Ringwood TC/Ringwood FC

Hythe and Dibden FC

Fawley PC

Handy Trust

AFC Bournemouth in the Community

Windsor FC

New Milton Town Council

Pace FC

Lymington and Pennington Town Council

Fawley Falcons FC

Marchwood Rangers FC

Lyndhurst Juniors/PC

Sway Juniors FC

New Forest Academy

Fordingbridge Turks FC

Arnewood School

Brockenhurst College

Ringwood School