Local Football Facility Plan South Oxfordshire

South Oxfordshire is in the South Region.

The current population of the Authority (ONS 2018 Mid-Year Estimate) is 140,504. This is expected to rise to 150,708 by 2039.

South Oxfordshire is ranked 55 out of 67 LAs in the region, and 308 out of 317 LAs nationally on the Indices of Multiple Deprivation (ONS).

Its ethnic composition is primarily white (96%). This is higher than the national average (85.4%).

The proportion of South Oxfordshire’s population represented by the BAME community is 4%. This is below to the national average (14.6%)

Local authority

South Oxfordshire's emerging Local Plan, which is intended to run to 2034 presents the following vision 'South Oxfordshire will remain a beautiful and prosperous place to live. It will be an attractive place for people to work and spend their leisure time'

South Oxfordshire Council produced joint indoor built facility and playing pitch strategy documents in 2017/2018, in order to align with the Council's local plan process.

The Authority Playing Pitch Strategy was published in 2018. Among the key generic findings for football were that clubs reported a lack of access to grass pitches and artificial grass training facilities.

County football association

South Oxfordshire is covered by both the Oxfordshire and Berks & Bucks FAs. They provide governance for, and development support to, all aspects of local football including coaches, referees, volunteers, clubs and leagues; supporting football for all. The county FAs have designated facilities investment lead officers who work to ensure that 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. Reading FC community foundation are also active in the South Oxfordshire area.

Local leisure operator

GLL is the key leisure operator in South Oxfordshire. It currently runs leisure centre provision in Didcot , Thame, Wallingford , Berinsfield and Wheatley.

Local consultation

This has taken place with a broad and diverse set of community groups in South Oxfordshire. 17 individuals (representing 19 local organisations) were spoken to. The agencies consulted include:

• South Oxfordshire District Council.
• Didcot Town Council.
• A range of local football 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. South Oxfordshire has a total of 336 teams, which is larger 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 South Oxfordshire, eight clubs have more than ten registered teams. The largest of these (based upon 2019-20 affiliation data) are:

• Thame - 34 teams
• Didcot Town Youth FC - 33 teams
• Crowmarsh Youth - 24 teams
• Goring Robins - 23 teams
• AFC Henley - 22 teams
• Rotherfield United - 20 teams
• Didcot Casuals - 15 teams
• Headington Youth - 15 teams
• Watlington Town - 14 teams
• Chinnor Youth - 11 teams

Leagues

Overall, 23 leagues cater in some form for clubs and teams in South Oxfordshire. They offer competitive opportunities for many different players, including women and girls, disability, youth and adults. The largest of these leagues (2019-20) include:

• Oxfordshire Youth League – 93 South Oxfordshire teams, 572 in total – home and away and central venue at multiple sites
• East Berks Football Alliance – 27 South Oxfordshire teams, 850 in total – home and away and central venue at multiple sites
• South Bucks Mini Soccer Conference – 17 South Oxfordshire teams, 243 in total – home and away and central venue at multiple sites
• Oxfordshire Girls Football League – 9 South Oxfordshire teams, 112 in total – home and away and central venue at multiple sites

Oxfordshire FA reports significant cross boundary migration to/from South Oxfordshire due to teams playing in Berkshire and Buckinghamshire based leagues.

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 South Oxfordshire there is one football team plus one session run 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. South Oxfordshire has one FA Wildcats girls football centre and the priority is to grow this activity.

At 21, South Oxfordshire’s number of female teams is comparable to local areas of a similar size. The County FAs' priorities are 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 and central venue basis. It expects to grow provision in future years. The local adult female league is the Thames Valley Counties Womens League; it plays matches on a home and away basis and is also expected to grow 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 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.

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:

• Powerplay, Henley Hawks Rugby Club
• Soccer Sixes, Henley Rugby Football Club.

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.

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 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.

Walking football sessions are delivered by a range of community organisation such as Chalgrove Cavaliers. Walking football and Just Play are areas that the County FA has prioritised for further growth and development. Other local recreational football programmes include pro-club community scheme activity and casual bookings which are delivered by a range of organisations including Oxford United in the Community.

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 South Oxfordshire include youth male football and disability impairment specific provision and it is recommended that this is sustained and also encouraged to grow further. However, gaps in provision do exist, these include women and girls club provision, disability youth and adult provision plus recreational Just Play opportunity. It is therefore recommended that the future football development priorities for South Oxfordshire are to:

1. Further grow youth male team provision
2. Develop adult female club and recreational provision
3. Increase youth female provision and the number of Wildcat centres
4. Grow mid-week adult male and Walking Football turn up and play opportunity.
5. Develop youth disability provision.

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

Additionally, 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 South Oxfordshire. 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 is one existing full-sized (11 v 11) 3G FTP in South Oxfordshire - at Horspath Sports Ground. This lies on the border with Oxford City and falls under the City Council's jurisdiction. The facility is 80m x 120m in size and is primarily used for rugby union, with limited football use having been funded by the RFU.

Thame Football Partnership meanwhile has a small sided 3G FTP (46m x 27m) at its Meadow View park facility.

The 2018 South Oxfordshire PPS indicates that the following locations should be prioritised for the development of 3G FTP provision:

• Didcot North East - a minimum of one full-sized FTP ( S106 funded; 10 -15 year timescale)
• Valley Park - one full-sized FTP ( S106 funded, in the Vale of White Horse district).
• Wallingford Sports Park - one full-sized FTP
• Goring - size of FTP and specific site to be confirmed as part of a feasibility study.
• Sonning Common - one smaller sized FTP
• Meadow Park (Thame) one full-sized FTP
• Henley - one full sized FTP

With only one current full sized 3G FTP in (or servicing) South Oxfordshire, there is a need to provide an equitable geographic distribution of new provision across the district, as set out in the PPS.

Local consultation confirms common issues with limited availability for training and a lack of match play opportunity on 3G and the recommendations in this plan are designed to address this.

Six priority projects for investment are identified. These comprise four full sized FTPs; one each at Wallingford Sports Park, Edmonds Park (Didcot), Thame Football Partnership (Meadow View Park) and Jubilee Park (Henley) and two smaller proposed facilities in Rotherfield (serving Sonning Common) and Goring .

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 23 grass pitch sites in South Oxfordshire with three or more full-size pitch equivalents (or with fewer than three pitches but deemed to be of strategic importance). These contain 96 grass pitches.

Local consultation confirms the problems faced in respect of poor pitch quality and underpins the recommendation that this issue be addressed.

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

Nine priority projects for investment have been identified. Pitch quality rating was evidenced by PPS and ratified by local partners. Prioritisation was based on a rationale of selecting sites with pitches that are in poor condition and that reflect the Authority's strategic focus to improve club provision.

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 23 key grass pitch sites in South Oxfordshire with three or more full-size pitch equivalents (or with fewer than three but deemed to be of strategic importance) 19 have suitable changing rooms while the remaining four sites require improvement/replacement.

Four 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.

Two potential opportunities to develop MUGAs are identified, one is a generic priority for Didcot Town; an area with a relatively high proportion of people from lower social economic groups and the other project being the provision of a 40 x 30 MUGA in Watlington, linked to the established affiliated club Watlington Town.

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:

• Leisure Development officer - South Oxfordshire District Council
• Active Communities Manager - South Oxfordshire District Council
• Clerk - Didcot Town Council
• Representative - Wallingford Sports Trust
• Representative - Chalgrove Cavaliers FC
• Representative - Chinnor Youth FC
• Representative - Thame Football Partnership
• Representative - Cholsey Bluebirds
• Representative - Rotherfield United
• Representative - Headington Youth FC
• Representative - AFC Henley
• Representative - Watlington Town FC
• Clerk - Kidmore End Parish Council
• Clerk - Nettlebed Parish Council
• Clerk - Chalgrove Parish Council
• Clerk - Benson Parish Council
• Clerk - Little Milton Parish Council
• Clerk - Cuddesdon and Denton Parish Council
• Clerk - Nettlebed Parish Council