Local Football Facility Plan North Kesteven

North Kesteven is in the East Midlands Region.

The current population of the Authority (ONS 2017 Mid-Year Estimate) is 115,230. This is expected to rise to 126,232 by 2039.

North Kesteven is ranked 35 out of 40 LAs in the region, and 266 out of 326 LAs nationally on the Indices of Multiple Deprivation (ONS).

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

The proportion of North Kesteven's population represented by the BAME community is 2%. This is well below the national average (14.6%).

Local Authority

The Local Plan for Central Lincolnshire (which includes the areas of the City of Lincoln, North Kesteven and West Lindsey) covers the period 2012-2036. It includes Policy LP24 which states that the three authorities will seek to: reduce deficiencies in public open space, sports and recreational facilities. As part of this, they commit to ensure that development provides an appropriate amount of new open space, sports and recreation facilities and/or improves the quality of, and access to, existing open spaces, sports and recreation facilities.

Health and Wellbeing Policy is also contained within the Local Plan. It states that: “it is essential that community needs are supported through appropriate physical and social infrastructure, and by other facilities and key services which contribute to improving physical and mental health and wellbeing, and the overall quality of life experienced by residents.”

The North Kesteven Sport & Physical Activity Strategy sets out the vision: ‘inspiring everyone to be more active, more often.’

It highlights a number of key health issues in the area:

• 65.5% of adults in North Kesteven are considered overweight or obese
• 15.8% of children in North Kesteven are considered overweight or obese
• 59.4% of adults in North Kesteven are considered physically active
• 34.6% of adults in North Kesteven take part in sport for 30 minutes a week. This is above the county average but lower than the national average.

This Strategy has four priority outcomes: to address obesity and risk of diabetes and heart disease by inspiring everyone to be more active, more often; to expand the number of people involved in physical activity and increase the frequency with which they participate; to improve community cohesion through sport and physical activity and to deliver a positive customer experience.

The Authority does not have a current PPS.

County football association

North Kesteven is covered by Lincolsnhire County FA which provides governance 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.

Active Partnerships

Active Lincolnshire is the Active Partnership for the county of Lincolnshire. Their mission is to get everyone, every day more physically active. They have a remit to support people of all ages and background to improve their health and wellbeing by taking part in regular physical activity supporting Sport England’s Towards an Active Nation strategy.

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 club community organisations (CCOs)

These offer a variety of programmes and services to support local communities (sporting and non-sporting). The Lincoln City Foundation runs a variety of health, education, engagement, football and sporting activities in the local area.

Local leisure operator

GLL is the key leisure operator in North Kesteven. It currently runs key sites including sports centres (three), 3G FTPs (one full size and two 5v5) and grass pitches (six).

Local consultation

This has taken place with a broad and diverse set of community groups in North Kesteven. 17 individuals (representing 14 local organisations) were consulted. These include:

• Waddington Parish Council Playing Fields Trust
• Kixx
• Lincolnshire Central School Sports Partnership

Clubs

There are over 91,000 community football teams in England, spread over an expansive network of clubs and leagues. North Kesteven has a total of 153 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 North Kesteven, six clubs have more than ten registered teams. These (based upon 2018-19 affiliation data) are:

• Greenbank JFC - 33 teams
• Sleaford Town JFC - 18 teams
• HBW United FC - 13 teams
• Hykeham Tigers FC - 13 teams
• Lowlands JFC - 11 teams
• Hykeham Town FC - 10 teams.

The largest leagues operating across North Kesteven (2018-19) include:

• Lincoln Co-Op Mid Lincs Youth League - male and female provision – 398 teams total with 112 teams from North Kesteven– home and away/central venues (including across multiple sites)
• Lincoln & District Sunday League – 54 teams total with 18 teams from North Kesteven - home and away
• Grantham Youth Football League - 41 teams in total with 8 teams from North Kesteven - home and away/central venues (including across multiple sites)

The County FA reports that there is no cross boundary migration in North Kesteven.

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.

There are presently no football teams specifically for people with a disability in North Kesteven. 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. North Kesteven has two FA Wildcats girls football centres and the priority is to grow this activity.

At eleven, North Kesteven number of female teams 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 playing opportunities for females. The local girls’ league from Under 12’s upwards is the Lincoln Co-Op Mid Lincs Youth League in which matches are played on a home and away basis. League provision for Under 11’s and below is the Lincolnshire Girls & Goals League. Both leagues are expected to grow provision in future years. The local adult female league is the Lincolnshire Womens County Football League in which matches are also 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 (RTCs) are Doncaster Belles / Nottingham Forest (located in Doncaster and Nottinghamshire respectively). Higher level talent pathway opportunities are also provided regionally and nationally by the FA, culminating in the England Women’s national squads. The nearest Women’s Super League teams are Leicester City Women FC / Sheffield United. These provide player pathway opportunities for gifted and talented female players and a spectator interest for fans.

Small-sided football

Many different types of small-sided football are played in England, from teams and leagues to recreational and informal. It is an established and important part of the modern game.

Many different types of small-sided football are played in England, from teams and leagues to recreational and informal. It is an established and important part of the modern game.

Small-sided teams and leagues are organised and competitive activities; typically with players registered to clubs and affiliated to leagues and their County FAs. Examples include futsal and local small-sided leagues running at venues such as sports halls, 3G FTPs or small-sided 3G centres. There is currently no affiliated small sided provision within this area.

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 North Kesteven. It is a priority for 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 no FA Just Play centres in North Kesteven. Affiliated walking football in North Kesteven has no affiliated teams. Walking football and Just Play have been prioritised by the County FA for further growth and development. Other local recreational football programmes include casual, recreational bookings which are delivered by a range of organisations.

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 North Kesteven is played across local parks within the local authority.

The key strengths of local football in North Kesteven include local teams accessing leagues across the county that cater for different formats of the game, this provision needs to be sustained and also encouraged to grow further. However, gaps in provision do exist these include FA Just Play centres, small sided opportunities, walking football, female provision, disability provision and local leagues.

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

1. Just Play centres
2. Small sided opportunity
3. Disability football provision
4. Female provision
5. Introduction of local league
6. Walking football

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

In addition, 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 North Kesteven. 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 national ‘Mini Pitch’ programme delivers small 3G FTPs at primary school sites to provide a high quality introduction to football and get children more physically active. While mini pitches are reviewed in this section, they are not included in the demand and supply analysis for 3G FTPs.

FA data states that there are currently two full size 3G FTPs in North Kesteven; this is a current shortfall of two full sized 3G FTPs and a future shortfall of three relative to assessed demand (using the FA's 1:38 model). The existing full sized 3G FTPs in North Lincolnshire are located at:

• Carre's Grammer School
• One NK

The two small-sided 3G FTPs (both of which are 5v5) are located at Better Gym Sleaford.

All the 3G FTPs are available for community use. Both full-sized pitches 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 any pitches developed in the future are assessed and placed on the Register to enable more match play on 3G.

The geographic spread of existing facilities is even; one is located in the north and one in the south of the local area. They are located in the areas of highest population density and football demand.

Local consultation reveals a common issue with limited 3G FTP availability and this plan seeks to address this. Although there is provision in the north of the Authority, the issue of 3G pitch availability is reportedly most prominent in the North Hykeham area of North Kesteven.

Four priority projects for potential investment are identified equating to three full size 3G FTPs and one small-sided 3G FTP. Undersupply was calculated using the FA 3G FTP demand and supply model.

The small-sided 3G FTP is identified in addition to the full size projects because there is some imported demand from neighbouring Lincoln for training. This project is noted for Waddington, where there is relatively high football demand, where a junior club currently has to train on a poor quality, small-sided sand-based pitch at an MoD site.

All 3G FTP projects within North Kesteven need to be considered in line with projects identified in the Lincoln LFFP, particularly in the south, as it is important to prevent over supply across the wider area. Keeping abreast of this is important because of the close proximity of the location of certain projects identified across the two plans and because training demand migrates across local authority borders.

In general, sites are proposed based upon a rationale of good access, servicing a significant catchment population and catering for affiliated football.

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 standard 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 15 grass pitch sites in North Kesteven with three or more full-size pitch equivalents (or with fewer than three but deemed to be of strategic importance). These contain 64 grass pitches.

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

Local consultation highlights issues with quality and capacity on sites for larger clubs and it is recommended that this addressed.

Four priority projects for potential investment are identified. Pitch quality rating was evidenced by the PPS and ratified by local partners. Prioritisation was based on a rationale of selecting sites in the poorest condition, that are, or have the potential to be well-utilised.

Of the four, one is an either/or option. There is the possibility of a new site being created in North Hykeham, linked to a future housing development, to support large clubs within the area; however, should this not be possible, there is an alternative - to improve quality at Witham Fields instead. This is an existing site that is well used by clubs in the area.

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 15 key grass pitch sites in North Kesteven with three or more full-size pitch equivalents (or with fewer than three pitches but of strategic importance), 12 have suitable changing rooms, two sites require improvements to changing facilities and one requires a new pavilion.

In addition to the three key sites identified above, should the potential new site in North Hykeham be taken forward it will also require a new build pavilion. (It is listed above as an either /or option with Witham Fields).

Three priority projects for potential investment are identified. Each has three or more full-size pitch equivalents and has either no facilities or was deemed to have an unsuitable pavilion.

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 could be developed to support the development of small-sided football.

Two potential opportunities for MUGAs are identified. In each case the rationale is based on the site being in an area of significant population with limited access to green space, and with locally significant levels of deprivation/a high proportion of people from lower social economic groups.

Following local consultation, no locations have been identified to support small-sided informal football.

• Senior Project Lead - Active Lincolnshire
• Secretary - Greenbank JFC
• Secretary - Hykeham Tigers JFC
• President - Hykeham Town FC
• Community Sport and Health Manager - GLL
• Franchise Owner - Kixx
• Head of Sport - North Kesteven Academy
• School Games Organiser - Lincolnshire Central School Sports Partnership
• Secretary - Lowlands JFC
• Strategic Leisure Contract Manager - North Kesteven District Council
• Principal Planning Officer - North Kesteven District Council
• Health & Wellbeing Lead - North Kesteven District Council
• Leisure and Cultural Services Officer - North Kesteven District Council
• Head of Sport - Sir Robert Pattinson Academy
• Chairman - Sleaford Town FC
• Clerk - Ruskington Parish Council
• Playing Field Trust (Waddington Parish Council)