Local Football Facility Plan Reading

Reading is in the South East Region.

The current population of the Authority (ONS 2017 Mid-Year Estimate) is 163,075. This is expected to rise to 180,017 by 2039.

Reading is ranked 15 out of 67 LAs in the region, and 142 out of 326 LAs nationally on the Indices of Multiple Deprivation (ONS).

Reading's ethnic composition is primarily white (74.75%). This is lower than the national average (85.4%).

The proportion of its population represented by the BAME community is 25.25%. This is above the national average (14.6%)

Local authority

The Reading Council Local Plan (adopted November 2019) commits it to providing all residents with access to adequate services and facilities, including to open green space. One objective is to "improve the quality of life for those living, working, studying in and visiting the Borough, creating inclusive, sustainable communities with good access to employment, open space, transport, education, services and facilities to meet identified needs", whilst another is to "ensure that Reading is a healthy, clean, safe and socially-inclusive community where the needs of all its citizens are met by high quality, cost effective services and outstanding levels of community involvement".

The Authority Playing Pitch Strategy was adopted in 2019. The key findings and stated overarching priorities are to improve the quality of grass pitches, as well as supporting infrastructure, and to increase the number of 3G FTPs.

County football association

Reading is covered by Berks & Bucks 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 Reading FC Community Trust runs a variety of health, education, engagement, football and sporting activities within the local area.

Local leisure operator

Currently leisure facilities including community football facilities in Reading are managed 'in-house' although a procurement exercise is currently ongoing. The majority of football provision is currently managed by the Council, schools and clubs.

Local consultation

This has taken place with a broad and diverse set of community groups in Reading. 18 individuals (representing 17 local organisations) were spoken to. The agencies consulted include:

• Reading Borough Council
• Get Berkshire Active
• Reading University
• Berkshire County Girls' Football League

(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. Reading has a total of 259 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 Reading, eight clubs have more than 10 registered teams. The largest of these (based upon 2018-19 affiliation data) are:

• Caversham AFC - 51 teams
• Caversham Trents FC - 32 teams
• Reading City FC - 23 teams
• Eldon Celtics FC - 22 teams

Leagues

Seven leagues cater for clubs and teams in Reading. They offer competitive opportunity for many different players, including women and girls, youth and adults. While there is no specific league opportunity for disability football in Reading, suitable provision is made in neighbouring Reading. The largest local leagues (2018-19) include:

• East Berks Football Alliance - 870 teams - home and away
• Berkshire Youth Development League - 334 teams - central venue at multiple sites
• Berkshire County Girls' Football League - 122 teams - home and away

The County FA reports significant cross boundary migration to/from Reading due to teams playing in the Berkshire Youth Development League from numerous local authorities in particular in Wokingham.

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 Reading there are eight 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. Reading has three FA Wildcats girls football centres and the priority is to grow this activity.

At 30, Reading’s number of female teams is comparable to local areas of a similar size. The County FA’s priority is to support existing clubs to grow and encourage more clubs to develop playing opportunities for females. The local girls’ league is the Berkshire County 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 Women's League in which matches are played on a home and away basis. It is expected to grow its provision in future years.

For talented players, the most local FA Regional Talent Club (RTC) is Reading 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 team is Reading FC Women which provides player pathway opportunities for gifted and talented female players and a spectator interest for fans.

Small sided football

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

Small-sided teams and leagues are organised and competitive activities; typically with players registered to clubs and affiliated to leagues and their County FAs. Examples include futsal and local small-sided leagues running at venues such as sports halls, 3G FTPs or small-sided 3G centres. Key local providers include:

• Football Invasion, Academy Sport
• PowerPlay, John Madejski Academy
• Leisure League, Prospect Park

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 eight futsal teams in Reading - playing in the Berkshire Futsal League. It is a priority for the County FA to grow futsal for 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 two FA Just Play centres in Reading. Walking football sessions are delivered by a range of community organisation such as South Reading FC. Walking football and Just Play are County FA priorities for further growth and development. Other local recreational football programmes include Kickz and soccer schools which are delivered by a range of organisations including Reading FC Community Trust.

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 Reading is played particularly in the south and west of the local authority. Prospect Park and Rabson's Recreation Ground are key well-used site locations.

The key strengths of local football in Reading include mini soccer and youth female provision and it is recommended that this is sustained and also encouraged to grow further. However, there are aspects of football provision that lower than local authorities of a similar size, including adult male. It is therefore recommended that the future football development priorities for Reading are:

1. Adult male
2. Youth male growth
3. Adult recreational football

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 Reading. 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 are five full size 3G FTPs in Reading, located at:

• John Madejski Academy
• Prospect College
• Reading Football Club (Madejski Stadium)
• South Reading Leisure Centre
• Wren School

In addition, there are three small-sided 3G FTP centres at:

• Palmer Park (three 35m x 23m pitches)
• Prospect Park (five 30m x 20m pitches)
• University of Reading (three 40m x 25m pitches)

Furthermore, there is a single small sided 3G FTP at Rivers Health Club (40m x 25m) and an indoor 3G FTP at Reading Football Club (60m x 40m).

Three of the five full sized 3G FTPs are available for community use. The facilities at Reading Football Club are not considered to be available as they are predominantly reserved for use by the Club and are, in any event, soon to be lost for development. The pitch at Prospect College is unavailable due to school policy and a lack of floodlighting. This is unlikely to be resolved.

Neither of the abovementioned unavailable venues are on the FA Register (meaning that they have not been quality checked and cannot be used for football match play). The three available full size 3G FTPs are on the Register. It is strongly recommended that all future provision is assessed when installed to enable more match play on 3G.

Reading's PPS was adopted in 2019 (albeit using older affiliation data). It indicates an overall need for seven full size 3G FTPs. Discounting those at Reading Football Club and Prospect College (due to the lack of community use) this equates to a shortfall of four pitches; however, for the purposes of this plan and based on the FA training ratio model (1:38), it is felt that this should be increased to five. This is because a large club, Berks Elite FC (circa 35 teams), stated a preference during consultation to play within Reading. It currently exports its demand to Wokingham.

A further full size 3G FTP is to be developed at the University of Reading, without funding from the Football Foundation. Nevertheless, this will not be widely available for community use due to the levels of internal student/staff usage it will accommodate. As such, access will not be sufficient to reduce the aforementioned shortfall of provision.

The existing 3G FTP at the John Madejski Academy is to be resurfaced, without funding via the Football Foundation.

The geographic spread of existing facilities is uneven; the majority are located to the east and west of the local area. There are no facilities centrally or to the north despite high levels of population and demand. There is also a need for additional provision in areas already catered for due to current facilities being at capacity. It is recommended that such issues are addressed.

Local consultation reveals common issues with low availability, long travel distances and no community access. Many large clubs currently train on unsuitable surfaces (such as sand-based AGPs) or travel to neighbouring authorities to access 3G FTPs and it is recommended that this is addressed.

Five priority projects for potential investment are identified, all for full size 3G FTPs - in order to address the identified shortfall. Each has been put forward based upon a rationale either of catering for a key under-provided for local area or servicing affiliated football demand (or both).

Three proposed projects are site specific, whilst the remaining two are suggested in generic geographic locations (North of the River and East Reading). This is because preferred sites could not be identified during this process; there are several existing options for both.

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 19 grass pitch sites in Reading with three or more full-size pitch equivalents (or with fewer than three pitches but deemed to be of strategic importance).These contain 83 grass pitches. Of these, two are considered to have good quality pitches, ten are of standard quality and seven are of poor quality.

In addition to the 19 grass pitch sites identified above, an additional site (Meadway Recreation Ground) is having pitches developed on it. This will require ground improvements to ensure that quality is adequate to cater for demand.

Local consultation confirms the issues faced in respect of poor quality grass pitches and low availability and it is recommended that these are addressed. Many of the area's larger clubs have to spread their matches across numerous venues rather than being based at one particular site; some of these are open to exploring asset transfer options in order to have a home base. Furthermore, some clubs with existing lease arrangements face security of tenure concerns as these agreements are near expiry.

Of the 19 key pitch sites referenced above it was determined that 12 of these should be prioritised (plus Meadway Recreation Ground). This will result in quality improvements to (or development of) 40 pitches.

13 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 had the most pitches and that were most well 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 19 key grass pitch sites in Reading with three or more full-size pitch equivalents (or with fewer than three but deemed to be of strategic importance) nine have suitable ancillary facilities, nine require improvement/replacement and one has no facilities and requires some level of new provision.

In addition, the new site proposed at Meadway Recreation Ground will require some level of provision to adequate accommodate demand. As a minimum, access to adequate toilet facilities is required.

Of the sites requiring improvement, three are already under development or are to be developed, exclusive of this plan. These are Mapledurham Playing Fields, Palmer Park and South Reading Leisure Centre. In addition, Scours Lane also needs improvement but this does not feature as a recommendation within this plan as the venue will instead qualify for the Football Stadia Improvement Fund.

Seven priority projects for potential investment are identified, comprising five sites that require refurbished provision and two that need new facilities. The venues requiring new provision are Coley Recreation Ground and Meadway Recreation Ground. These do not necessarily need changing rooms but instead warrant, as a minimum, toilet facilities in order to cater for venue users.

Of the five sites requiring refurbishment, the majority are primarily used for youth and mini football and therefore the priority should not be on the changing facilities but instead, as with Coley and Meadway recreation grounds, on toilet, social and catering amenities. As such, reconfiguration and/or extension of the existing facilities may be required.

Only Prospect Park, Clayfield Copse and Whitley Wood Recreation Ground warrant changing room development to be considered (in addition to toilet, social and catering facilities). For Prospect Park, existing quality is adequate; however, reconfiguration is required as shower and toilet access is insufficient.

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.

Local consultation reveals that four MUGAs are required to develop small sided football. In each case the rationale is based on the site being in an area of significant population with relatively high proportions of people from lower social economic groups and corresponding high local demand for informal football. Two (Clayfield Copse and Whitley Wood Recreation Ground) are for new MUGAs to be created, whilst two (Long Barn Lane Recreation Ground and Amersham Road) involve the improvement of existing provision.

Following local consultation, one location, Long Barn Lane Recreation Ground, has been identified to support small sided informal football. Here, the rationale is based on it being popular open green space with suitable space 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:

• Parks Manager - Reading Borough Council
• Programme Manager (Leisure & Recreation) - Reading Borough Council
• Chief Executive Officer - Get Berkshire Active
• Managing Director - Berks Elite FC
• Secretary - Caversham Trents FC
• Secretary - AFC Caversham
• Chairman - Reading City FC
• Secretary - Berkshire County Girls' League
• Business Manager - Reading College
• Community Officer - Reading University
• Clerk - Woodley Town Council
• Clerk - Earley Town Council
• Communities Manager - Catalyst Housing
• Inclusion Officer - Ability Housing
• Manager - Coley Park Community Centre
• Lettings Manager - Fairview Youth & Community Centre
• Manager - Hexham Community Centre
• Operator - Whitley Wood Community Centre