Local Football Facility Plan Pendle

Pendle is in the North West Region.

The current population of the Authority (ONS 2018 Mid-Year Estimate) is 91,405. This is expected to fall slightly to 89,488 by 2039.

Pendle is ranked 12th out of 39 LAs in the region, and 42 out of 326 LAs nationally on the Indices of Multiple Deprivation (ONS).

Pendle's ethnic composition is primarily white 79.86%. This is lower than the national average (85.4%).

The proportion of Pendle’s population represented by the BAME community is 20.14%. This is above the national average (14.6%)

Local authority

The Pendle Council Strategic Plan (2018-2020) commits to the following vision: "Pendle is a place where quality of life continues to improve and where people respect one another and their neighbours. We want Pendle to be a place where everyone aspires to reach their full potential. We want to be recoginised locally, regionally and nationally as a great area to live. learn, work, play and visit"

The Authority PPS, completed in 2016, is part of a joint study/PPS which also includes Burnley and Rossendale. The key findings and stated overarching priorities are to improve the quality of grass pitches throughout the Authority and to increase the available supply of 3G FTPs .

County football association

Pendle is covered by the Lancashire 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). Burnley in the Community runs a variety of health, education, engagement, football and sporting activities within the local area.

Local leisure operator

Pendle Leisure Trust is the major leisure operator in Pendle. It operates key leisure sites in the Borough including Pendle Leisure Centre. It is noted that no sites managed by Pendle Leisure Trust play a significant role in accommodating affiliated football demand at the present time but with the advent of the new flooring and upgrade of the sports hall, opportunities are now there to facilitate 5-a-side football, Futsal, Walking Football, Disability, Female Football sessions.

Local consultation

This has taken place with a broad and diverse set of community groups in Pendle. 15 individuals (representing 13 local organisations) were spoken to. The agencies consulted include:

• Burnley FC in the Community
• Pendle Education Trust
• Bradleys Big Local Partnership
• Pendle Borough Council

(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. Pendle has a total of 156 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 Pendle, six clubs have more than 10 registered teams. These (based upon 2018-19 affiliation data) are:

• Barnoldswick Town FC - 26 teams
• Barrowford Celtic FC - 25 teams
• Pendle Forest Sports Club FC - 20 teams
• Burnley Belvedere FC - 15 teams
• Colne Juniors FC - 12 teams
• Barnoldswick Barons FC - 10 teams

Leagues

One main league serves clubs and teams in Pendle. It mainly offers competitive opportunities for adult men's football. While there is no locally specific league opportunities for junior and women’s and girls within Pendle, provision is made in neighbouring Burnley, Hyndburn and Blackburn. Disability football is catered for primarily via the Lancashire FA Ability Counts League. The Lancashire FA Women’s County League also provides entry level grassroots provision up to regional football within the North West Women’s Regional League. Some clubs within Pendle also participate in competitions via their affiliation to the West Riding County FA.

The County FA, thus, reports significant cross boundary migration to/from Pendle due to teams which play in the Accrington & District Junior Football League, East Lancashire Football Alliance, East Lancashire Football League, West Lancashire Football League and the North West Counties Football League.

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 Pendle, there is one football team 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. Pendle does not currently have a FA Wildcats girls football centre and the priority is to initiate and grow this activity.

With eight, Pendle’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 girls’ league is the North Valley & Pendle Unity League in which matches are played on a home and away basis. It is expected to grow provision in future years. The local adult female league is the Lancashire FA Women’s County League; it too plays matches on a home and away basis and is expected to grow provision in future years.

For talented players, the most local FA Regional Talent Club (RTC) is at Blackburn Rovers FC. 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 teams are Manchester City FC and Manchester United FC with Blackburn Rovers FC also competing in the FA Womens Championship. Collectively, these clubs 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.

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 are no existing providers in Pendle, although it is recognised that there are several venues in the area with appropriate facilities to do so; including newly refurbished Pendle Leisure 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.

There are currently no futsal teams in Pendle. It is a priority for the County FA to grow futsal for all player types. Historically, Futsal was a high popular sport in Pendle circa 25 years ago and had a number of leagues. This was played at Pendle Leisure Centre and the recent upgrade of the sports hall at this site could assist in future growth in the area.

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 Pendle. Walking football sessions are delivered by a range of community organisations such as Burnley FC in the Community. 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 Pendle is played across the local authority. Parks such as Victory Park and Alkincoates Park as well as many other games areas in the towns and villages are heavily used.

The key strengths of local football is its strong youth set up with clubs which operate the bulk of teams, pathways from youth to adult football and a dedicated amateur adult 11v11 league. It is recommended that this is sustained and also encouraged to grow further. However, gaps in provision do exist, including futsal, women and girls and disability football. It is therefore recommended that the future football development priorities for Pendle are:

1. Development and support for grass pitch improvement
2. Development and enhancement of facilities to grow futsal, disability and women's and girls' participation
3. Development and investment of 3G facilities for match play and training
4. Support and enhance recreational football with facility development

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 Pendle. 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, local areas are 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 one full sized (11 v 11) 3G FTP in Pendle is located at Saint John Fisher & Thomas More RC High School. In addition, there are three small sided 3G FTPs at:

• Nelson & Colne College (92m x 50m)
• West Craven College (50m x 30m)
• The Leisure Box (40 x 30m - indoor pitch)

Further to the above, an outdoor, 60x40m 3G FTP is being developed at the Leisure Box which is expected to be open for use in late 2019.

The Pendle PPS was adopted in 2016. It indicates a shortfall of two full size 3G FTPs. Althought there has been growth in football participation since the PPS was produced it is considered that the 3G FTP at Nelson & Colne College accommodates a significant level of football activity and the overall shortfall of two full sized 3G FTPs is still considered to apply.

All 3G FTP's are available for community use. Those at Saint John Fisher & Thomas More RC High School and Nelson & Colne College are on the FA Register for 3G FTPs (meaning they are quality checked and can be used for football match play). It is recommended that the small sided pitch at West Craven College is also certified (if deemed feasible) to enable more match play on 3G.

The geographic spread of existing facilities is even, relative to local demand for football. However, there are provision gaps in both the north and central areas with areas of significant population and demand under-catered for.

Local consultation confirms the issue of limited availability for midweek 3G FTP access to accommodate affiliated football training demand. One of the key ambitions of this plan is to rectify this issue.

Three priority projects for potential investment are identified, equating to the creation of two full size 3G FTPs plus refurbishment of the existing small-sided pitch at West Craven College.

For the delivery of full size 3G provision, there are two potential options in both Colne and Barnoldswick which will be further investigated upon the delivery of projects within the LFFP. Projects were selected based upon a rationale of servicing specific affiliated football demand:

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 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 nine grass pitch sites in Pendle with three or more full-size pitch equivalents (or with fewer than three pitches but deemed to be of strategic importance). These contain 27 grass pitches.

Local consultation highlights the poor quality of pitches at a number of sites in Pendle. This is reportedly due both to their poor initial condition and the fact that they have to consistently accommodate high levels of play.

Of the nine key pitch sites referenced above it was determined that six of these should be prioritised. This will result in quality improvements to 18 pitches:

Six priority projects for potential investment are identified. Pitch quality rating was evidenced by the Pendle PPS and ratified by local partners. Prioritisation was based on a rationale of selecting sites that were, or offered the potential to be, best utilised by local football clubs.

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 nine key grass pitch sites in Pendle with three or more full-size pitch equivalents (or with fewer than three but deemed to be of strategic importance), six have suitable changing rooms, two require improvement/replacement and one has no facilities and requires a new changing pavilion.

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 due to a recent refurbishment of Pendle Leisure Centre which will enable Futsal, 5-a-side, walking football and disability football to develop, that there are currently no further projects required to develop small sided indoor football at this time.

It is recognised that in the future there maybe scope to refurbish the sports hall at Primet Academy for the benefit of Futsal and disability football. The site is managed on a day to day basis by Burnley FC in the Community. This will be given consideration upon future review of the LFFP and on the basis that capacity at Pendle Leisure Centre is maximised.

Three potential opportunities for MUGAs are identified. In each case the rationale is based on them being able to service an area of significant population and a relatively high proportion of people from lower social economic groups.

No locations are identified to support small sided informal football via development of facilities in parks/open spaces. It is assumed that the development of small sided football will be primarily based upon development of the previously noted MUGA projects.

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:

• Corporate Director - Pendle Borough Council
• Chief Executive - Pendle Education Trust
• Chief Executive - Pendle Leisure Trust
• Club Secretary - Barnoldswick Town Juniors FC
• Club Secretary - Colne Juniors FC
• Club Secretary - Pendle Forest Sports Club
• Club Secretary - Barrowford Celtic FC
• Chairman - Colne FC
• Chairman - Burnley Belvederes FC
• Chief Executive - Pendle Education Trust
• Engagement Officer - Football Foundation
• Head of Facilities & Investment - Lancashire County FA
• Manager - Bradleys Big Local Partnership
• General Manager - Burnley in the Community
• Green Spaces Manager - Pendle Borough Council
• Principle - Pendlevale College