Local Football Facility Plan South Somerset

South Somerset is in the South West Region.

The current population of the Authority (ONS 2017 Mid-Year Estimate) is 167,861. This is expected to rise to 180,630 by 2039.

South Somerset is ranked 13 out of 30 LAs in the region, and 163 out of 317 LAs nationally on the Indices of Multiple Deprivation (ONS).

Its ethnic composition is primarily white (98%). This is considerably higher than the national average (85.4%).

The proportion of South Somerset’s population represented by the BAME community is 2%. This is substantially below the national average (14.6%).

Local authority

The South Somerset Council Plan (2020 - 24) vision is to create an authority where communities are safe, vibrant and healthy and have access to exceptional cultural and leisure activities. To achieve this, the Council aims to provide a range of high quality accessible sport and leisure facilities, including the redevelopment of Chard Leisure Centre.

The Authority Playing Pitch Strategy was adopted in 2018. At that time, it confirmed that there were five full sized community available 3G FTPs and a shortfall of three relative to assessed demand for football in South Somerset.

County football association

South Somerset is covered by the Somerset 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). Yeovil Town Community Sports Trust deliver a variety of education, engagement, football and sporting activities in the local area.

Local leisure operator

LED Leisure is the key leisure operator in South Somerset. It currently runs a number of key sites including Goldenstones Leisure Centre, Westlands Sport and Fitness Centre and Wincanton Leisure Centre.

Local consultation

This has taken place with a broad and diverse set of community groups in South Somerset. 27 individuals (representing 27 local organisations) were spoken to. The agencies consulted include:

• South Somerset District Council
• A number of football clubs
• Key parish councils

(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 Somerset has a total of 288 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 South Somerset, eight clubs have more than ten registered teams. These are (based upon 2019-20 affiliation data):

• Pen Mill FC (adult - M/F & youth – M/F) - 28 teams
• Ilminster Town FC (adult – M/F & youth – M/F) - 21 teams
• Ilchester Youth FC (adult – M & youth – M) - 18 teams
• Merriott FC (adult – M & youth – M/F) - 15 teams
• Somerton Town FC (adult - M & youth - M) - 14 teams
• Wincanton Town FC (adult – M & youth -M) - 14 teams
• Avishayes Combe/Combe St Nicholas FC (adult – M & youth - M) - 11 teams
• East Coker Cockerels FC (youth – M) - 11 teams

Leagues

Four main leagues cater for clubs and teams in South Somerset. They offer competitive opportunity for many different players, including youth and adults. While there is no specific league opportunity for women and girls and disability in South Somerset, suitable provision is made via the Somerset Girls, Somerset Women’s and Somerset FA Ability Counts leagues (all countywide leagues). The largest of the local leagues catering for competitive football in South Somerset include:

• Yeovil & District Mini League– 133 teams– home and away
• Yeovil & District Youth League – 66 teams– home and away
• Yeovil & District Men’s League – 27 teams– home and away
• Perry Street & District League – 40 teams – home and away

The County FA reports some cross boundary migration to/from South Somerset to neighbouring authorities due to teams playing in the Perry Street & District, Blackmoor Vale and Dorset County leagues.

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 South Somerset there are three 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. South Somserset has five FA Wildcats girls football centres and the priority is to grow this activity.

At 17, the number of female teams in South Somerset is lower than areas of a similar size and composition. The County FA’s priority is to support existing clubs to grow and encourage more of them to develop playing opportunities for females. The local girls’ league is the Somerset Girls 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 Somerset County Women's League. It too plays matches on a home and away basis and expects to sustain its provision in future years.

For talented players, the most local FA Regional Talent Club (RTC) is Bristol City. However, the Somerset FA Girls Advanced Coaching Centre is available to any talented female players from across the County. 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 also Bristol City 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:

• Soccer Pitch (Bucklers Mead Academy)
• Soccer Sixes (Yeovil Town FC)

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 South Somerset though the County FA runs numerous club and school festivals throughout the season that feed into The FA’s National Futsal Competition. It is a priority for the County FA to grow futsal for male, female, youth and adult players.

Recreational football

Recreational football is played where facilities are typically booked and there might be someone to help organise. Examples include FA Just Play sessions, walking football and casual pitch hire for small-sided match play.

There is currently one FA Just Play centre in South Somerset. Walking football sessions are delivered by a range of community organisation such as Yeovil Walking Football Club, Yeovil Town FC and Crewkerne U3A. Walking football and Just Play are County FA priorities for further growth and development. Other local recreational football programmes are delivered by a range of organisations and include a Man v Fat programme at Bucklers Mead Academy.

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 South Somerset is played particularly in the north and south part of the local authority. Yeovil Recreation Ground, Somerton Playing Fields and Yeovil Sports & Social Ground are key site locations that are heavily used.

The key strengths of local football in South Somerset include youth and adult male provision. It is recommended that this is sustained and also encouraged to grow further. However, gaps in provision do exist, these include women and girls, futsal and recreational football. It is, therefore, recommended that the future football development priorities for South Somerset are to:

1. Sustain and increase male football
2. Grow female participation at junior and adult levels
3. Increase the number of recreational playing opportunities
4. Grow disability provision.
5. Increase the level of futsal opportunity, including development of affiliated teams and leagues.

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

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 Somerset. 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 has been 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 five full-sized (11 v 11) 3G FTPs in South Somerset located at:

• Bucklers Mead Academy
• Huish Episcopi Academy
• RNAS Yeovilton Sports Field
• Westfield Academy
• Yeovil Town FC

In addition, there are two small-sided 3G FTP centres in South Somerset at:

• Wincanton Sports Ground (7v7)
• Somerton Recreation Ground (5v5)

All listed full sized 3G FTPs are on the FA Register (meaning they are quality checked and can be used for football match play). Three of the five full sized 3G FTP are available for community use. Both Yeovil Town FC and RNAS Yeovilton Sports Field have limited community use.

The South Somerset PPS was adopted in 2017. It indicated a shortfall of three full size 3G FTPs. The PPS stated shortfall was calculated using the FA demand model of 1:42 however using the latest model (1:38) and current affiliation data, there is deemed to be a need for four full-sized 3G FTPs. Taking into account the current accessible provision, it was agreed that the shortfall should be broken down into the following analysis areas based on current affiliation data:

• West- shortfall of 2 (Crewkerne, Ilminster areas)
• East- shortfall of 1
• South – shortfall of 1 (long term need).

As stated, these shortfalls are based on current demand, however, significant housing growth is anticipated in these analysis areas over the next 10 years, and the shortfalls will need to be re-calculated to ensure that provision meets this growth.

The geographic spread of existing facilities is uneven; with provision gaps in the south west and the east of the Authority despite strong demand from affiliated football and it is recommended that these are addressed. Local consultation suggests that clubs such as Ilminster Town FC (21 teams) and Ilchester Youth FC (18 teams) have to travel to Yeovil to access a 3G facility. Development of a facility in Area West would support clubs from Ilminster.

Four priority projects for potential investment are identified. One specific site is listed (Wadham School). This will address half of the shortfall in the west of the authority, with the remaining three projects requiring further feasibility work within each of the stated respective analysis areas.

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 25 grass pitch sites in South Somerset with three or more full-size pitch equivalents (or with fewer than three pitches but deemed to be of strategic importance). These contain 78 grass pitches. Of these, 15 are considered to have good quality pitches while the pitches at the other 11 are of standard or poor quality.

Of the 25 key pitch sites referenced, 12 are prioritised. This will result in quality improvements to 32 pitches:

Twelve priority projects for potential investment have been identified. Pitch quality rating was evidenced by the latest PPS and ratified by local partners. Prioritisation was based on a rationale of selecting sites with pitches in poor/standard condition that were, or offered the potential to be, well-utilised and cater for demand for affiliated football.

There is a considerable deficit of grass pitch provision in Chard and therefore priority should be given to projects which will bring forward additional pitches at Forton, Mount Hindrance and to the south of Chard. Local Partners will need to continually monitor this area to ensure that additional pitches can be delivered.

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 26 key grass pitch sites in South Somerset with three or more full-size pitch equivalents (or with fewer than three but deemed to be of strategic importance) 18 have suitable changing rooms, seven require improvement/replacement and one has no facility and requires a new changing pavilion.

Eight 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.

One potential opportunity for a small sided MUGA has been identified. The orioised site is in an area of locally relatively high population and deprivation. It can be supported via animattion and programmes of use run by organisations including the Somerset Activity & Sports Partnership .

Local consultation indicates that, at present, no parks or open green spaces require improvement to develop small sided 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:

South Somerset Council

Yeovil Town FC
Yeovil Town Women FC
Yeovil College
Ilminster Town FC
Ilminster Town Ladies FC
Ilchester Youth FC
Somerton Town FC
Somerton Town Youth FC
Wincanton Town FC
Wincanton Town Youth FC
Combe St Nicholas FC
Westland Sports Youth FC
Crewkerne College
Preston School
Somerset Activity & Sports Partnership (SASP)
Chard Town Council
Langportand Huish Episcopi Memorial Field Committee
Castle Cary Town Council
Long Sutton Parish Council
Seavington Playing Fields Association
Queen Camel Parish
Chard United (survey)
Bruton United (survey)
Odcombe FC (survey)
Forton Rangers (survey)