Local Football Facility Plan Stockton-on-Tees

Demographics for the area can be seen below:

Local authority

The Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council Local Plan was adopted in January 2019. The plan establishes the Council’s overall vision and strategy for delivering sustainable development and economic growth up to 2032. One of the strategic priorities of the Local Plan is to provide high quality services and facilities with regards to sport, leisure and recreation. The plan identifies a series of local challenges for the area, some of which are of direct relevance to sport and football. Core policies have been devised to try and address these challenges. The relevant core policies are :

• Policy SD5 - Natural, Built and Historic Environment: to ensure the conservation and enhancement of the natural environment so that space is retained for sport and recreation. The Council will also support developments of appropriate scale that provides for sport and recreational facilities.
• Policy SD6 – Transport and Infrastructure Strategy: emphasises that planning applications will be supported by the Council if they deliver or enhance sport, educational and health facilities.
• Policy H1 – Housing Commitments and Allocations: concerns housing commitments and the allocations that may affect land currently used as playing fields. Three sites that are used as playing fields have been allocated as potential sites for housebuilding – Yarm Road, Darlington Back Lane and Billingham Campus (former school) site, though the Council is supporting new alternative proposals which exist for sporting development of the latter. The Plan indicates that the Council wishes to mitigate any loss of playing pitches with artificial grass pitches (AGPs).
• It notes that a key recommendation of the previous 2015 Stockton-on-Tees Playing Pitch Strategy is a migration to AGPs. It is anticipated that through migration onto AGPs, the sites allocated will become surplus to requirements as playing fields and therefore available for residential development.
• Policy TI2 – Community Infrastructure: emphasises the need to ensure that community infrastructure is delivered and protected to meet the needs of the growing population within the Borough, including leisure and recreational needs.
• Policy ENV6 – Green Infrastructure, Open Space, Green Wedges and Agricultural Land: emphasises the need to protect and enhance open spaces help to create high quality design and contribute to the distinctiveness, character and amenity of an area. It recognises that the provision of open spaces also helps to support healthy lifestyles and improve quality of life, this policy covers amenity green space and informal sports facilities.

The local authority has a Playing Pitch Strategy in place, completed in 2022 and adopted by the Council in January 2023. The key findings include a shortfall of grass pitch capacity for football and a shortfall of 3G pitch provision for football team training. The overarching priorities are to improve grass pitch quality at key club/league and local authority maintained sites, to develop additional 3G pitch provision and to develop a long-term football pitch site at which to meet the National League System facility requirements of Billingham Synthonia FC, potentially including Billingham Town FC.

County Football Association

Stockton-on-Tees is covered by both Durham FA and North Riding FA. They each 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 each have a designated facilities investment lead officer who works to ensure the right facilities are located in the right locations.

Football Foundation

The Regional Delivery Manager and Regional Technical Project Manager at the Football Foundation work collaboratively with the County FA to provide pre-application support and lead on the delivery of priority projects for potential investment. The Regional Facility Planning Manager (FPM) will lead and be responsible for all aspects of strategic planning and will lead on refreshing of LFFPs.

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). Middlesbrough FC Foundation runs a variety of health, education, engagement, football and sporting activities within the local area.

Local leisure operator

Tees Active (a charitable social enterprise) is the main leisure operator in Stockton-on-Tees. It currently operates leisure centre and adventure sports sites Stockton Splash, Thornaby Pool, Thornaby Pavilion, Billingham Forum, Tees Barrage International White Water Centre and IB Leisure, the new leisure centre developed in 2020 in Ingleby Barwick since the 2019 LFFP. None of the six venues operated by Tees Active have outdoor football pitch provision.

Local consultation

Local consultation took place with a broad and diverse set of community groups to inform the development of the 2019 LFFP, as well as more recently in 2022 to inform and develop the Stockton-on-Tees PPS. See Appendix B for full list of consultees who helped inform the LFFP update. It is a requirement that all projects that move through to application phase undertake detailed community engagement to ensure that facilities fully serve the communities they are being designed for.

Clubs

There are over 91,000 community football teams in England, spread over an expansive network of clubs and leagues. Stockton-on-Tees has a total of 291 teams (2022/23 season).

Survive. Revive. Thrive is the FA Grassroots Football Strategy 2020-2024. To deliver the goals for male and female football, there must be a vibrant, best-in-class club network around the country. The FA will work to encourage as many clubs as possible to achieve FA-Accredited status, assuring quality in everything they offer, including ever-safer and stronger player pathways. This will be coupled with a commitment to improve the quality of thousands of pitches up and down the country, with a particular focus on grass pitches.

Over the last 10-years there has been a significant national increase in the number of large multi-team football clubs. In Stockton-on-Tees, nine clubs have more than 10 registered teams. The largest of these (based upon 2021-22 affiliation data) are:

• Leven AFC Youth - 37 teams
• Stockton Town FC - 35 teams
• Eaglescliffe Elementis Juniors FC - 29 teams
• T.I.B.S FC - 25 teams
• Norton & Stockton Ancients FC - 24 teams
• Billingham United Youth - 16 teams
• Billingham Juniors FC - 16 teams
• Billingham Synthonia FC - 13 teams
• Thornaby Town - 13 teams

Leagues

Two leagues operate in Stockton-on-Tees. They offer competitive opportunity for many different players, including adult male, youth and girls. The main adult women's league is the Durham County FA Women's Football League which operates across the County. While there are no specific league opportunities for disability within Stockton-on-Tees, there is however suitable disability league provision in neighbouring Middlesbrough and in Sunderland, both operated centrally by Durham FA.

The largest local leagues in Stockton-on-Tees (2022-23) include:

• Teesside Junior Football Alliance - 1,016 teams, 121 based within Stockton-on-Tees (home and away format)
• Stockton Sunday Football League - 23 teams (home and away format)

The County FA reports that there is low level cross boundary migration in Stockton-on-Tees to access facilities, though teams playing away fixtures in the Teesside Junior Football Alliance often do so in neighbouring local authorities where the League is predominantly based.

Billingham Synthonia FC is displaced from the Borough, playing at Stokesley Sport Complex in neighbouring North Yorkshire to meet facility requirements of the National League System. There is no operational facility in Stockton-on-Tees at which to meet this need since the Billingham Synthonia Football Ground fell into disuse.

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 Stockton-on-Tees there are three football teams and one Just Play disability session 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 had big ambitions for women and girls football and managed to double levels of participation between 2017 and 2020. To achieve this required a combined effort across four pathways: education, recreation, competition and talent. Despite achieving this ambitious target more places to play are still required for women and girls. The focus now is to give all girls equal access to football by 2024 and this will be a key objective of any facility investment. The FA’s four-year strategy, titled Inspiring Positive Change, pledges to create a sustainable future for women’s and girls’ football in England. The strategy outlines eight transformational objectives to be achieved by 2024, the following across grassroots football:

• Early Participation – Every primary school-aged girl to have equal access to football in school and in clubs.
• Development Participation – Every girl to have equal access to participate for fun, for competition and for excellence.
• Club Player Pathway – Collaborate with clubs to develop an effective high-performance, inclusive player-centred pathway.
• Football For All – Recruit and support a motivated, diverse range of local leaders organising football for their communities.
• Coaching – Support the development of exceptional coaches at every level of the game who are representative of our society.
• Refereeing – Ensure that every female referee afforded high-quality bespoke learning and development opportunities from grassroots through to the elite game.

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. Stockton-on-Tees has one FA Wildcats girls football centre and the priority is to grow this activity. FA Squad Girls' football sessions provide girls aged 12-14 with a fun, non-competitive way to play football locally with friends, whether completely new to football, transitioning from Wildcats, or simply wanting to play. There are currently no FA Squad sessions registered in Stockton-on-Tees for 2022/23 and the priority is to grow this activity.

At 43 (including 14 dedicated girls mini teams, with more girls playing in 62 mixed youth teams), the number of female teams in Stockton-on-Tees is comparable to local areas of a similar size. The priority for the County FAs is to support existing clubs to grow and encourage more clubs to develop playing opportunities for females. The local girls league is the Russell Foster Girls’ Youth League which plays matches on both a home and away and central venue basis. It is expected to grow its provision in future years. The local adult female league is the Durham County FA Women’s League which plays matches on a home and away basis. It too is expected to grow its provision in future years.

For talented players, the most local FA Regional Talent Club (RTC) is Teesside Girls’ RTC located in Middlesbrough. 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 team providing player pathway opportunities for gifted and talented female players and a spectator interest for fans is Durham Women FC which plays in the Women's Championship, the second tier of women's football.

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 AGPs or small-sided 3G centres.

Key local providers include:

• Soccer Sensations Teeside (formerly Powerleague Stockton)
• Leisure Leagues - at Egglescliffe School, Bede Sports Centre

Goals Teeside in Middlesbrough also provides for the small sided football market within Stockton-on-Tees and draws players from across the Borough.

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 Stockton-on-Tees. Walking football sessions are delivered by a range of community organisation such as Tees Valley Walking Football Club, Durham University and the Middlesbrough FC Foundation. Walking football and Just Play are County FA priorities for further growth and development.

The key strengths of local football in Stockton-on-Tees include adult male, youth boys and girls provision and it is recommended that these are sustained and also encouraged to grow further. However, there are aspects of football provision that are lower than local authorities of a similar size, these include women and girls' and disability participation as well as the range of recreational football offer.

It is therefore recommended that the future football development priorities for Stockton-on-Tees are:

1. Women & girls (including Wildcats)
2. Disability Football
3. Small Sided & Futsal
4. Recreational Offer (including Walking Football, Just Play Centres & Flexible Football)
5. Affiliated Football (all formats)

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. 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 AGPs
• Improved grass pitches
• Off pitch and ancillary facilities (e.g. toilets, changing rooms, catering)
• 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 each investment priority is reviewed individually, it is understood that they can be inter-reliant; account is, thus, taken of these potential connections.

3G AGPs 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 3G AGPs 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, 3G AGPs 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 AGP 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 AGPs 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 six full size (11v11) 3G AGPs in Stockton-on-Tees:

• Billingham Rugby Club -senior rugby union pitch build (100x70m - not marked for football)
• Conyers School (91x55m)
• Northfield Sportsdrome (100x60m)
• North Shore Academy (100x64m)
• Stockton Sixth Form College (100x64m)
• Stockton Riverside College - Bede Sports Centre (91x55m)

There is also currently one small-sided 3G AGP centre in Stockton-on-Tees, Soccer Sensations (formerly Powerleague Stockton) which has ten 5v5 3G AGPs.

The Council is working with FF to develop an application through the FF Football Hubs Investment Programme for the development of a football hub at the site of the former Billingham Campus School. The site retains substantial playing field land, though no pitches are currently marked and the playing fields not utilised for sport since last school use in July 2014. Proposals include the development of at least two new full size 3G AGPs, improvements to access and car parking provision, as well as a new hub building. Facilities would complement and could operate together with the adjacent Stockton Riverside College (Bede Sports Centre), where there is an existing FF funded full size 3G AGP and grass pitches.

Stockton-on-Tees has a PPS undertaken in 2022 and adopted by the Council in January 2023. The PPS indicates that there is a shortfall of at least two full size 3G AGPs, with potential to sustain three additional full size 3G AGPs given anticipated future growth in demand and potential demand for use by other sports. This is on the basis of five existing full size pitches, excluding Billingham Rugby Club which is used almost exclusively for rugby union activity. Specifically, there is a spatial deficiency of provision in the South East sub-area, as well as a need for additional provision to meet demand from the West of the Borough and key settlements of Billingham and Stockton, with further future growth expected from the West of Stockton Urban Extension.

In addition to the shortfall of full size 3G AGPs there are also four 3G AGPs that require replacement either imminently or within the next three years, at Conyers School and Northfield Sportsdrome which were both previously FF funded, as well as at North Shore Academy and Stockton Riverside College Sports Centre which were not.

All six full size pitches are available for community use and all are on the FA 3G Pitch Register (meaning they are quality checked and can be used for football match play). Though there is no known regular football use of the pitch at Billingham Rugby Club which has no line markings for football, however the pitch is presently available for hire for football and the RFU is working alongside the Council to increase usage of the pitch, including for football. The ten 5v5 3G AGPs at Soccer Sensations are also on the FA 3G Pitch Register.

The geographic spread of existing facilities is focused in the north (Billingham, three full size pitches) and central (Stockton, two full size pitches) areas of the Borough. There is a provision gap in the south east (Thornaby and Ingleby Barwick catchment) despite high levels of population and high levels of football demand in this area and it is recommended that this is addressed.

Local consultation undertaken as part of the 2022 PPS reveals common issues with low availability due to the quantitative shortfall of 3G AGPs and it is recommended that this is addressed.

Four priority projects for potential investment are identified, including two projects for resurfacing of existing 3G AGPs. Each was selected based upon a rationale of high population and football demand, geographic spread, existing facility quality, high levels of deprivation and high proportions of people from lower social economic groups:

The Football Foundation is on a mission to transform the quality of grass football pitches across England, because great facilities enhance physical and mental wellbeing, strengthen communities and empower people. The quality of football pitches is a huge issue for community football; 150,000 matches were postponed due to poor pitches during the last full football season. We are therefore on a mission to improve 20,000 grass pitches across England.

The Grass Pitch Maintenance Fund is a £21m fund that provides eligible clubs and leagues with a tapered six-year grant to help them sustain pitches already at a 'good' level and enhance pitches that are either considered 'poor' or 'basic'. In order to be eligible, clubs and leagues must use the PitchPower app to assess their pitches. This provides a detailed assessment report with recommendations on improving the quality of grass pitches. The PitchPower app is available to all pitch owners as a way to assess grass pitch quality and gain access to grass pitch improvement recommendations. See PitchPower.

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.

Through the use of PitchPower we are able to identify the demand for investment into new or additional machinery and equipment and see this as an important step towards sustainability for the voluntary sector. Ensuring clubs and leagues can maintain their own sites, supplemented by contracted out major works (e.g. aeration) is potentially a more cost effective approach in the long term.

While the education sector (23.8%) and local authorities (51.8%) are still the principal asset owners of grass pitches and have the heaviest reliance for affiliated matches, clubs / leagues own or maintain an increasing share and we will continue to prioritise investment into sites that are maintained by clubs or leagues.

Since the 2019 LFFP the introduction of PitchPower has allowed all Club owned and leased sites to apply for funding to improve grass pitch maintenance. Two projects identified in the 2019 Stockton-on Tees LFFP for improvements to grass pitches have since received FF funding, at Norton Sports Complex and Elementis Recreational Ground.

Some clubs/sites have since been awarded Football Foundation investment through the Grass Pitch Maintenance Fund (GPMF), which should result in pitch quality improving over the next couple of seasons. The aim now should be to get the pitches up to the 'good' standard and work to sustain them. Clubs that have accessed the funding to improve pitches are:

• Eaglescliffe Elementis JFC (Elementis Recreational Ground)
• Norton & Stockton Ancients FC (Norton Sports Complex)
• T.I.B.S. Juniors FC (Thornaby & Ingleby Barwick Football Club)
• Stockton Town Youth FC (Our Lady & St Bede Catholic Academy)
• Wolviston FC

As well as the revenue funding available through GPMF, T.I.B.S. Juniors FC also received GPMF funding for additional pitch maintenance equipment.

The drains have reportedly collapsed at Eaglescliffe Recreation Ground (Durham Lane) and the pitches are due to be improved as part of new development, anticipated to include drainage system and improvement to pitch surfaces. The site is usually used by Leven FC Youth and the proposed improvements will enable the club to increase the number of existing pitches from one to two.

There are currently 11 grass pitch sites in the local area that have been identified as either currently maintained, in part or whole, by grassroots clubs or leagues, or are maintained by the public sector but are of strategic importance to football locally. Of these, seven have been assessed via PitchPower and are known to have ten good (or higher) quality pitches, 18 basic quality pitches and nine poor.

The total number of pitches includes club owned or operated sites which are a priority for grass pitch investment and are eligible for the Football Foundation's Grass Pitch Maintenance Fund. These sites are listed below (if possible):

• Billingham Synthonia Juniors (Billingham Synthonia Sports Ground)
• Thornaby Town FC (Robert Atkinson Centre)
• Village Ground (Former Cowpen Bewley Cricket Club)

The priority now is to concentrate on those local authority owned sites that require improvements and agree sustainable solutions for pitch maintenance going forward. The first step is to ensure that all pitches have a baseline quality assessment done via PitchPower.

Of the 12 key club/league/community pitch sites referenced above it was determined that three of these should be prioritised for improvements along with five education sites, of which four are presently maintained by schools and one by the local club user. A further two local authority managed sites should be prioritised for improvements, some of which may hold opportunity for future transfer to club or league led management and maintenance models. In total this will result in quality improvements to 28 full size pitch equivalents.

Eleven priority projects for potential investment have been identified. Pitch quality rating was evidenced by PitchPower, or the PPS and ratified by local partners where PitchPower data isn't available. Prioritisation was based on a rationale of selecting sites that had the most pitches and that were most well utilised, with a strategic focus to improve club maintained pitches (including at some school sites) and key local authority maintained sites.

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 AGPs 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 20 key grass pitch sites in Stockton-on-Tees deemed to be of strategic importance, 14 sites have suitable changing rooms, two require improvement and four require new off pitch provision either because they have none or to replacement inadequate facilities.

As well as existing sites, there would also be a need for the development of a new building and works to access and car parking provision to service the proposed new football hub at Billingham Campus, which would include at least two 3G AGPs.

Seven 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, the audiences and the various facility types they relate to.

Research suggests that small-sided players in teams and leagues, and in organised 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 AGP 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.

Whilst our priorities will always be football led, we believe Small sided facilities provide a good opportunity to collaborate with other sports to deliver high quality spaces for people to play recreational sport. This will be achieved via our PlayZones Programme:

Football Foundation PlayZone Programme

PlayZones are modern, safe, and engaging facilities that are designed for recreational football and at least one other sport. There are a range of facility types to meet the needs of different sports.

Through this programme we want to address stubborn inequalities in activity levels and access to sports facilities within four priority groups:

• Lower socio-economic groups
• Women and girls
• Disabled people and people with long-term health conditions
• Ethnically diverse communities

Our research also shows us that when it comes to small sided facilities one size does not fit all and localised design and ownership will yield the greatest engagement from under represented groups. Activation is also as important as the facility itself for these groups. This section of the LFFP will concentrate on suitable places for PlayZones.

Suitable places will be identified through a combination of mapping, to include identification of our priority groups and crossover with other multi-sport priorities. Further community engagement will be required for design and delivery. Where some engagement has already been carried out projects will appear in the project list.

All projects will then need to be developed by a cross sector consortium where partners who understand and represent the people and the place come together to drive the project forward and create access and opportunities for priority groups.

Our research shows us that community engagement is the key to developing great small sided facilities and that we shouldn't try and identify sites without first identifying two key things:

• Key priority places within the local authority
• Key priority groups within the local authority

Once these two things are identified local community engagement is required to identify potential sites for investment. In Stockton-on-Tees the starting point for priority places, identified through previous Local Authority work around deprivation and inactivity, is:

• Thornaby South
• Billingham Central
• Rimswell and Bishopsgarth
• Thornaby Village
• Billingham East and Haverton Hill

North Riding FA received FF Active Through Football funding with the aim to focus on driving participation from residents in the Roseworth, Hardwick and Salters Lane, Newtown, Stockton Town Centre, Parkfield and Oxbridge Wards in Stockton, as well as Mandale and Victoria, Village and Stainsby Hill Wards in Thornaby. Titled Shape the Play, the programme has four target audiences: females, ethnically diverse communities, people with learning disabilities and people with mental & physical health conditions.

The key priority groups in Stockton-on-Tees are:

• Lower socio-economic groups
• Women and girls
• Disabled people and people with long-term health conditions
• Ethnically diverse communities

This priority group of places and people will be ratified throughout the process and the next step is to now begin community engagement to help identify where the specific sites are that will help to tackle inequalities and provide spaces for activity. A portfolio of project proposals is being developed for FF funding through the Play Zones programme using a consortium of interested parties. Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council sits on the consortium and is the landowner of all identified sites. The authority will assist where possible and consider match funding and submission details.

A range of local agencies were invited to participate in the LFFP consultation. Those that contributed are listed below:

• Principal Sport & Active Life Officer - Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council
• Head of Environment, Leisure & Green Infrastructure - Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council
• Principal Planning Officer - Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council
• Principal Place Development Officer - Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council
• Facilities & Investment Officer - Durham FA
• Head of Football Development & Operations - North Riding FA
• Football Development Officer - North Riding FA
• Delivery Manager - Football Foundation
• Head of Foundation - Middlesbrough FC Foundation
• Planning Manager - Sport England
• Tees Valley Sport
• Multi-Sports Network Manager - RISE
• Facilities Development Manager (North) - Rugby Football Union
• Facilities Planning Manager (Recreational Game) - England & Wales Cricket Board
• Director of Cricket Development - Durham Cricket Foundation
• Facilities Relationship Manager - England Hockey
• National Clubs Manager - Rugby Football League
• Facilities Manager - Rugby Football League