Local Football Facility Plan Norwich

Norwich City Council is in the East Region.

The current population of the Authority (ONS 2018 Mid-Year Estimate) is 141,137. This is expected to rise to 155,486 by 2039.

Norwich is ranked 6 out of 45 LAs in the region, and 61 out of 326 LAs nationally on the Indices of Multiple Deprivation (ONS).

Its ethnic composition is primarily white (91%). This is higher than the national average (85.4%).

The proportion of the City's population represented by the BAME community is 9%. This is below the national average (14.6%).

Local authority

The Norwich City Council Corporate Plan (2019-2022) identifies three corporate priorities; great neighbourhoods, housing and environments, people living well and inclusive economy. With regards to 'people living well' the Council states that it 'will continue to provide mechanisms for residents to access a range of activities via direct provision and contracting of leisure facilities, and working with key partners, such as Active Norfolk to bring investment and to connect communities to diverse activities.'

In 2015, the City in conjunction with adjacent authorities Broadland District Council and South Norfolk Council adopted its joint Playing Pitch Strategy (PPS). This was commissioned by the Greater Norwich Growth Board (GNGB) and is now out of date and in need of renewal. It is understood that any new PPS would be developed on the basis of its covering the same three authority areas. At the time of PPS publication, the key findings and stated overarching priorities related to the need for investment to bring the quality of pitches up to required standards with subsequent improved maintenance programmes to enable them ton cope with raised usage levels. Also noted in the 2015 PPS was the relative lack of 3G FTPs - this was considered to be inhibiting the quality of football training and limiting opportunities to use FTPs for match play.

The Greater Norwich Infrastructure Needs & Funding Study also identifies that Norwich has a deficiency in respect of indoor dry sports facilities. It needs an additional 4-court sports hall by 2021 and will need a further 4-court sports hall by 2031.

County football association

Norwich is covered by Norfolk 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 Norwich City Community Sports Foundation (CSF) runs a variety of health, education, engagement, football and sporting activities within the local area.

Local leisure operator

Places for People is the main leisure operator in Norwich. However, the key provider for football facilities is the Norfolk County FA which runs facilities across the County including, in Norwich, dual use provision at the FDC Open Academy (one 11v11 3G FTP plus two full-sized grass football pitch equivalents) and FDC Bowthorpe (8 x small size 3G FTPs, one grass football pitch).

Local consultation

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

• Norwich City Community Sports Foundation
• Active Norfolk
• Norwich City Council Neighbourhoods & Communities

(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. Norwich has a total of 156 teams, which is lower than local areas of a similar size.

The FA is investing to support clubs both on and off the pitch which includes an aim to have a qualified FA coach with every youth team by 2020/21. In addition, it will support 1,000 clubs to create full player pathways from youth to adult teams and develop 150 community football hubs with male and female pathways, disability and recreational playing opportunities.

Over the last 10-years there has been a significant national increase in the number of large multi-team football clubs. In Norwich, three have more than ten registered teams. These (based upon 2019-20 affiliation data) are:

• Norwich City Community Sports Foundation - 49 teams
• Heigham Park Rangers - 16 teams
• University of East Anglia FC - 11 teams

Leagues

Seven leagues cater for clubs and teams in Norwich. They offer competitive opportunity for many different players, including women and girls, youth and adults. There is no specific league opportunity for disability football in Norwich. The largest of the local leagues (2019-20) include:

• Norfolk Combined Youth Football League – 530 teams (home and away)
• The Norfolk & Suffolk Youth Football League – 237 teams (home and away)
• The Norfolk Women’s & Girls Football League – 116 teams (home and away)
• The Anglian Combination Football League – 103 teams (home and away)

The County FA reports some cross boundary migration to/from Norwich for competitive match play.

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 Norwich there are 22 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. Norwich has two FA Wildcats girls football centres and the priority is to grow this activity.

Norwich’s 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 league for girls and women's football is the Norfolk Women & Girls Football League in which matches are played on a home and away basis. The league is expected to grow provision for both women and girls in future years.

For talented players, the most local FA Regional Talent Club (RTC) is Essex FA located in Colchester. 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 West Ham United which provides player pathway opportunity 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

• Norfolk County FA - FDC Bowthorpe, FDC Open Academy & University of East Anglia
• Goals - Goals Norwich

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 three futsal teams in Norfolk. These play in the BUCS League at key site locations including UEA Sportspark. It is a priority for the County FA to grow futsal for male, female, youth and adult 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 eight FA Just Play centres in Norwich. Walking football sessions are delivered by a range of community organisation such as Norfolk County FA. Walking football and Just Play are County FA priorities for further growth and development. Other local recreational football programmes include All To Play For, PL Kicks and Norfolk County FA Pay and Play; these are delivered by a range of organisations including Active Norfolk, Norwich City CSF and Norfolk County 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 Norwich is played particularly in the central part of the local authority. Eaton Park, Waterloo Park and Mousehold Heath are key heavily used site locations.

The key strengths of local football in Norwich include women’s, youth and adults’ provision and it is recommended that this is sustained and also encouraged to grow further. However, gaps in provision do exist, these include disability and futsal. It is therefore recommended that the future football development priorities for Norwich are to:

1. Grow disability football provision
2. Increase the number of youth teams playing futsal
3. Drive female participation growth across all ages
4. Further develop recreational football provision
5. Expand and develop affiliated leagues operating in the locality, including the Norfolk Women & Girls Football League, Norfolk Combined Youth Football League and Anglian Combination.

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 Norwich. 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 is one full sized (11v11) 3G FTP in Norwich located at the FDC Open Academy. In addition, there are currently two small-sided 3G FTP centres at:

• FDC Bowthorpe - six 5v5 3G FTPs, two 7v7 3G FTPs
• Goals Norwich - eight 5v5 3G FTPs, two 7v7 3G FTPs
• UEA Sportspark - four 5v5 3G FTPs, three 7v7 3G FTPs

The PPS which covers Norwich was adopted in 2015 and is now out of date. It indicated a (then) shortfall of up to two full size 3G FTPs. Given its age the PPS is no longer considered by Sport England to represent a robust, recent evidence base and demand for full sized 3G FTPs has, thus, been calculated using the FA training ratio model 1:38.

On the basis that there are 156 teams in Norwich, there is a requirement for four full-sized 3G FTPs. As noted above, there is currently just one in the City. A full sized 3G FTP is presently under construction at The Nest, operated by Norwich City Community Sports Foundation (NCCSF). It is located just over the City authority border within Broadland district. It will service Norwich based demand, predominantly from NCCSF affiliated teams and its other community programme delivery.

Given this, the extent of community delivery to take place at The Nest and the reduced capacity for affiliated team training, the steering group agreed that the shortfall for the City is three additional full sized 3G FTPs.

The South Norfolk Local Football Facility Plan identifies a project to develop a full-sized 3G FTP at Colney Lane Playing Fields, offsite playing fields of the University of East Anglia. Whilst the university is based in the west of Norwich, the local authority boundary intersects its main campus and Colney Lane Playing Fields in South Norfolk. Due to proximity of the site to western Norwich, a 3G FTP here could cope with likely demand from Norwich based teams.

The pitch at FDC Open Academy is available for community use and is on the FA Register for 3G FTPs (meaning that it has been quality checked and can be used for football match play).

The existing 3G FTP within the Norwich boundary is located in the east of the City. There are provision shortfalls in the north, south, west and central areas despite the substantial population in these areas and pockets with high levels of deprivation. It is recommended that these are addressed.

Two priority projects to be located within the City Council area are proposed. A third, at UEA Colney Lane on the Norwich border, will meet City based demand but is within the administrative area covered by South Norfolk Council. This will primarily service demand from within Norwich, but because of its location, is detailed within the LFFP for South Norfolk.

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 eight grass pitch sites in Norwich with three or more full-size pitch equivalents (or with fewer than three pitches but deemed to be of strategic importance). These contain 29 grass pitches. Of these, according to the 2015 PPS, three are considered to have good quality pitches and five are classed as being of standard quality.

Of the eight key pitch sites referenced, six have been prioritised. This will result in quality improvements to 21 pitches, with one at Sloughbottom Park proposed for conversion to 3G FTP.

Six priority projects are identified. Pitch quality rating was evidenced by PPS and ratified by local partners. Prioritisation was based on a rationale of selecting sites that had the most pitches and that were, or offered 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 eight key grass pitch sites in Norwich with three or more full-size pitch equivalents (or with fewer than three but deemed to be of strategic importance) five have suitable changing rooms, and three require improvement/replacement. All presently have some level of changing room provision.

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. Norwich Community Sport Foundation is a key user of indoor facilities for football across the County, however in Norwich it makes greater use of existing 3G FTP provision, including the small sized 3G FTP it operates at Carrow Park.

Three 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.

Following local consultation, two locations are identified to support small sided informal football. These are popular local parks/open/green spaces with suitable areas upon which to create facilities to increase informal football.

A range of local agencies and larger (usually 10 plus team) local football clubs were invited to participate in the LFFP consultation. Those that contributed are listed below:

• Contract Manager - Norwich City Council
• Leisure & Sport Development Manager - Norwich City Council
• Parks & Open spaces Officer - Norwich City Council
• Planning Officer - Norwich City Council
• Neighbourhoods & Communities Enabling Manager - Norwich City Council
• Development Manager - Active Norfolk
• Planning Manager - Sport England
• Facilities Relationship Manager - England Hockey
• Community Development Manager - Norwich Community Sport Foundation
• Assistant Director - University of East Anglia
• Head of Football - UEA FC