Local Football Facility Plan Oxford

Oxford is in the South Region.

The current population of the Authority (ONS 2017 Mid-Year Estimate) is 154,327. This is expected to rise to 157,697 by 2039.

Oxford is ranked 24 out of 67 LAs in the region, and 174 out of 326 LAs nationally on the Indices of Multiple Deprivation (ONS).

Its ethnic composition is primarily white (78%). This is lower than the national average (85.4%).

The proportion of Oxford's population represented by the BAME community is 22% which is substantially above the national average (14.6%)

Local authority

The vision of the Oxford City Council Local Plan (2016-36) is that 'Oxford will be a global centre for the knowledge-based economy, and all residents will benefit from the strong economy. Deprivation and inequality will be reduced, Oxford’s diverse communities will have a strong sense of togetherness and people will be able to live fulfilled, happy and healthy lives. Oxford will be an affordable place to live. It will also have an attractive, clean and healthy environment, where heritage and the natural environment are protected'.

The Authority is currently preparing a playing pitch strategy, which suggests that in respect of 3G FTPs , demand can be met through planned development of 2 new full sized 3G FTPs.

County football association

Oxford is covered by the Oxfordshire 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 Oxford Utd Community Trust runs a variety of health, education, engagement, football and sporting activities within the local area.

Local leisure operator

There is no single leisure operator for community football facilities in Oxford. Facilities management is spread across numerous providers.

Local consultation

This has taken place with a broad and diverse set of community groups in Oxford. 13 individuals (representing 12 local organisations) were spoken to. The agencies consulted include:

• Oxford City Council
• Oxford University Sport
• Oxford Brookes University
• A range of local affiliated clubs

(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. Oxford has a total of 268 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 ten years there has been a significant national increase in the number of large multi-team football clubs. In Oxford, seven clubs have more than 10 registered teams. These plus a couple of the other slightly smaller clubs consulted (and based upon 2019-20 affiliation data) are:

• Summertown Stars AFC - 57 teams
• Oxford City FC - 35 teams
• Oxford United FC - 31 teams
• Hinksey Park FC - 24 teams
• Oxford Blackbirds - 18 teams
• Quarry Rovers - 18 teams
• Mansfield Road Juniors - 11 teams
• Horspath Youth FC- 9 teams
• Marston Saints FC - 7 teams

Leagues

Overall, some 35 leagues cater for clubs and teams playing in Oxford. They offer competitive opportunity for many different players, including women and girls, disability, youth and adults. While there is no specific league opportunity for futsal in Oxford, suitable provision is made in neighbouring Berkshire. Key local leagues (2019-20) in the context of the number of Oxford-based clubs serviced, include:

• Oxfordshire Youth League – 139 Oxford teams, 572 in total– home and away and central venue at multiple sites
• Oxfordshire Girls League – 32 Oxford teams, 112 in total – home and away and central venue at multiple sites
• Oxford City FA – 7 Oxford teams, 9 in total – home and away

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 Oxford there are 15 football teams plus one session running 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. Oxford has five FA Wildcats girls football centres and the priority is to grow this activity.

At 68, Oxford’s number of female teams is higher than comparable local areas. 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 Oxford Mail Girls League in which matches are played on a home and away basis. It is expected to grow its provision in future years. The local adult female league is the Thames Valley Counties Womens League. It too plays matches on a home and away basis and is expected to grow its provision in future years.

For talented players, the most local FA Regional Talent Club (RTC) is Oxford United Women. 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 offer organised and competitive activity; 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 including sports halls, 3G FTPs or small-sided 3G centres. In Oxford, key local providers include:

• The Charity Football League – The Oxford Academy
• The Charity Football League – Iffley Road Sports Centre
• The Diversity Football League – Court Place Farm, Oxford City FC
• Powerplay – Oxford Hawks Hockey Club
• Soccer Sixes – The Oxford Academy
• Leisure Leagues - Court Place Farm, Oxford City FC
• Oxfordshire FA - Women Small Sided Summer League
• Oxfordshire FA - Women Small Sided Autumn League
• Oxfordshire FA - Women Small Sided Spring League

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 six affiliated futsal teams from Oxford play in the National, Berkshire and BUCS Futsal leagues at key site locations including Cheney School. A youth futsal league was established in March 2020 to provide competitive playing opportunities for U7-U15 at a number of sites across the county.

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 Oxford. Walking football sessions are delivered by a range of community organisation such as The Diversity Football League and WR Coaching. Walking football and Just Play are County FA priorities for further growth and development. Other local recreational football programmes include Man vs Fat, pro-club community scheme activity and casual bookings delivered by a range of organisations including Oxford United in the Community, Ignite Sport and Oxford City in the Community.

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).

The key strengths of local football in Oxford include women and girls, PAN & impairment specific disability provision and leagues provision. It is recommended that all these are sustained and encouraged to grow further. However, provision gaps do exist, these include adult male recreational, adult women's club and general recreational football. It is therefore recommended that the future football development priorities for Oxford are to:

1. Grow adult male club provision
2. Grow mid-week flexible and recreational adult male opportunity
3. Develop adult female club and recreational provision
4. Increase male and female vets plus walking football provision
5. Further develop youth male and female provision

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 Oxford. 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 investment priorities are 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 three full-sized (11 v 11) 3G FTPs in Oxford located at:

• Oxford City FC, Court Place Farm (1 x full size stadia 3G FTP, 1 x community accessible full size 3G FTP)
• Oxford Academy (1 x full size FTP)

In addition, there are small-sided 3G FTPs at the following locations:

• Oxford (Horspath) Sports Park (8 x 5v5)
• Oxford Academy (1 x 7v7 FTP - indoor dome)
• Leys Pools and Leisure Centre (1 x 7v7 FTP)
• Barton Park Pavilion (1 x 9v9 FTP)

Oxford City Council is currently undertaking a PPS. Draft findings indicate a current shortfall of two full size 3G FTPs, with the possibility of a further shortfall of one full size FTP taking into account prospective housing growth. On completion of the strategy phase of the PPS, it will be important to incorporate 3G scenario testing into the LFFP. It should also be noted that Oxfordshire FA has the strategic ambition to relocate its headquarters to a location with 3G provision.

Each of the three current full sized 3G FTPs is available for community use, however the stadia pitch at Oxford City gives its first team and academy priority use. All three 3G FTPs are on the FA Register (meaning they are quality checked and can be used for football match play).

The spread of 3G is uneven with gaps in north and central areas of the City despite substantial populations and a high numbers of affiliated teams. It is recommended that this is addressed. Local consultation confirmed the issues associated with limited availability / lack of match play on 3G and the intention of this plan is to address this.

Two priority projects for investment are identified. Each was selected based upon a rationale of good access, servicing a considerable local population catchment and ensuring a good geographic spread.

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 13 grass pitch sites in Oxford with three or more full-size pitch equivalents (or with fewer than three pitches but deemed to be of strategic importance). These contain 49 grass pitches.

Whilst Oxford City is currently in process with its PPS, pitch quality ratings were not available at the time of LFFP preparation. Sites have therefore been selected on the basis of their strategic importance as stated in the draft PPS and due to their current affiliated club use.

Of the 13 key pitch sites referenced above it was determined that eight should be prioritised. This will result in quality improvements to 27 pitches:

Eight priority projects for potential investment are identified. Prioritisation was based on a rationale of selecting sites with the most pitches, that were (or offer the potential to be) best-utilised and to reflect the strategic focus on improving local authority pitches.

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 14 key grass pitch sites in Oxford with three or more full-size pitch equivalents (or with fewer than three but deemed to be of strategic importance), 13 have suitable changing rooms, and one requires improvement. In addition, the Council has identified that a programme of small scale facility improvements is likely to be required across its main playing field sites over the period of the plan, to include security measures, car park improvements and general maintenance items.

One priority project for potential investment is 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.

Consultation with Oxford City Council identified that, whilst there are no current site specific opportunities for small sided facility improvements, the following neighbourhood locations, containing higher levels of relative deprivation to the rest of the City are considered as priorities in respect of improving levels of physical activity . Further feasibility work will be required working with Steering Group partners to determine where potential interventions in respect of small sided football could be made. The locations in which the development of MUGAs is considered to be desirable include:

• Blackbird Leys
• Barton
• Rose Hill
• East Oxford
• Littlemore
• Wood Farm
• Cutteslowe
• Northway

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

• Head of Charity - Oxford United FC Community Trust
• Sports Development Officer (Facilities and Clubs) - Oxford City Council
• Sport & Physical Activity Manager - Oxford City Council
• Representative - Summertown Stars AFC
• Representative - Oxford City FC
• Representative - Horspath Youth FC
• Representative - Hinksey Park FC
• Representative - Marston Saints FC
• Representative - Mansfield Road Junior Football Club
• Representative - Quarry Rovers FC
• Head of Sport - Oxford University Sport
• Head of Sport - Oxford Brookes University
• Chief Executive - Active Oxfordshire