Local Football Facility Plan Sutton

Sutton is in the Greater London region.

The current population of the authority (ONS 2017 Mid-Year Estimate) is 202,220. This is expected to rise to 235,763 by 2039.

Sutton is ranked 31 out of 33 LAs in the region, and 219 out of 326 LAs nationally on the Indices of Multiple Deprivation (ONS).

Although Sutton's ethnic composition is primarily white (78.6%) this is lower than the national average (85.4%).

The proportion of Sutton’s population represented by the BAME community is 21.4%. This is above the national average (14.6%)

Local authority

The London Borough of Sutton Local Plan (2016-2031) seeks to retain the existing levels of open space in the borough by:

• Refusing development of all open space and play space in the borough unless it can be demonstrated that such development would preserve or enhance its open character, its function as a sport, leisure or recreational resource, and its contribution to visual amenity, or the loss resulting from the proposed development would be replaced by equivalent or better provision in terms of quantity and quality in the local area.
• Supporting new high quality outdoor sports facilities to promote sports and recreation across the borough.

The local authority does not currently have a playing pitch strategy (PPS) in place.

County football association

Sutton is covered by the Surrey 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). Sutton United FC and The Palace for Life Foundation both run a variety of health, education, engagement, football and sporting activities within the local area.

Local leisure operator

Everyone Active is the key leisure operator in Sutton. It runs four sites across the borough; David Weir Leisure Centre, Westcroft Leisure Centre, The Phoenix Centre and Cheam Leisure Centre. Westcroft Leisure Centre and the Phoenix Centre both have indoor halls which are used for recreational football. The Phoenix Centre also accommodates some futsal sessions.

Local consultation

This has taken place with a broad and diverse set of community groups in Sutton. 21 individuals (representing 17 local organisations) were spoken to. The agencies consulted include:

• LB Sutton
• Worcester Park Athletic Club
• Sutton United FC
• Carshalton United FC

(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. Sutton has a total of 226 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 Sutton, six clubs have more than 10 registered teams and Coulsdon Athletic FC has 8 teams. Those with 10 or more (based upon 2018-19 affiliation data) are:

• Carshalton Athletic - 43 teams
• Sutton United - 40 teams
• Worcester Park - 23 teams
• Sutton Common Rovers - 20 teams
• Croygas Falcons Youth - 19 teams
• A.F.C Lanes Juniors - 10 teams

Leagues

15 leagues cater for football clubs and teams in Sutton. They offer competitive opportunity for many different players, including women and girls, youth and adults. While there is no specific league for disability football in Sutton, suitable provision is made in Elmbridge via the Surrey Football For All League. The largest local leagues serving the area (2018-19) include:

• Surrey Youth League – 94 teams– home and away
• Epsom & Ewell Youth League – 29 teams– home and away
• Surrey County Women’s & Girls League – 9 teams– home and away
• Leatherhead & District Sunday League (adult) – 9 teams – home and away

The County FA reports low levels of cross boundary migration to/from Sutton.

There is also a significant number of Little Leagues operating at a number of sites across Sutton:

• West Sutton Little League - central venue at Cheam Recreation Ground
• Sutton Little League - central venue at Royston Park
• Carshalton Little League - central venue at David Weir Leisure Centre
• Wallington Little League - central venue at Beddington

*Currently, Little Leagues are not eligible for Football Foundation funding as they are unaffiliated.

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 Sutton there are six 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. Sutton has two FA Wildcats girls football centres and the priority is to grow and sustain this activity.

At 15, Sutton’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 Surrey County Women and 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 not in operation within Surrey currently, however a flexible small sided ladies league is played 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 Chelsea FC which is located in neighbouring Kingston-Upon-Thames. 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 Chelsea FC 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:

• Goals Soccer Centre Sutton - this site is located in neighbouring Croydon.
• Powerleague Croydon

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 Sutton that play in the Sutton Futsal League at key site locations including Carshalton Boys College. It is a priority for the County FA to grow futsal for all 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 Sutton. Walking football sessions are delivered by a range of community organisation such as Sutton United. Walking football and Just Play are County FA priorities for further growth and development. Other local recreational football programmes include pro-club community scheme activity and casual bookings delivered by a range of organisations including the Palace for Life Foundation.

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 Sutton is played across the borough. Corrigan Avenue, Beddington Park, Thomas Wall Park, and Overton Park are examples of key, heavily utilised, site locations.

The key strengths of local football in Sutton include adult senior male/female, and male/female youth provision, walking football and adult male disability provision. It is recommended that this is sustained and encouraged to grow further. However, gaps in provision do exist these include female disability (both adult and youth), and recreational female provision. It is therefore recommended that the future football development priorities for Sutton are:

1. Disability female provision (youth and adult)
2. Recreational adult female provision

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 Sutton. 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.

The national ‘Mini Pitch’ programme delivers small 3G FTPs at primary school sites to provide a high quality introduction to football and get children more physically active. While mini pitches are reviewed in this section, they are not included in the demand and supply analysis for 3G FTPs.

The two full-sized (11 v 11) 3G FTPs in Sutton are located at:

• Sutton United (one 11V11)
• Carshalton Athletic FC (one 11v11)

In addition, there are 27 small-sided 3G FTPs in Sutton:

• Carshalton Boys College (one 9v9)
• Cheam High School (one 9v9)
• Goals Soccer Centre Sutton (one 7v7 and eight 5v5)
• Powerleague Croydon (two 7v7 and ten 5v5). This facility is in close proximity to neighbouring LB Croydon.
• Croygas Sports Club (one 7v7)
• Cheam Common Junior Academy (one 5v5)

Sutton is also home to a significant number of multi sport artificial grass pitches (AGPs) and multi-use games areas (MUGAs). These are heavily used for recreational football.

As noted earlier, there is no current PPS and for the purposes of LFFP development, demand for full size 3G FTPs has been calculated applying FA 3G demand modelling. This identifies that demand for recreational football is higher than that for the affiliated game.

There are currently seven full sized equivalent 3G FTPs in Sutton which together meet the identified FA recreational demand figure for Sutton. On this basis a strategic decision was taken to revert to the FA's training ratio model (1:38) which indicates a requirement for six full size 3G FTPs based on 226 teams in Sutton. Taking into account the two current full-sized 3G FTPs this leaves a shortfall of four.

The majority of the abovementioned full and small-sided 3G FTPs are available for community football use. The 3G FTPs at Sutton United, Carshalton Athletic FC and Croygas Sports Club are on the FA Register for 3G FTPs (meaning that they have been quality checked and can be used for football match play). It is strongly recommended that the other existing 3G FTPs and any future developments (full sized and/or small sided) are assessed and placed on the Register to enable more match play on 3G. The geographic spread of existing facilities is uneven; there are provision gaps in the north and central areas of the borough despite the high population density plus significant planned regeneration & housing growth. Local consultation confirms the limited availability of 3G FTPs, especially for affiliated training slots.

Although there is demand for more, at this point in time, three small sided 3G FTPs are identified for potential investment. Consultation did not identify any potential full size FTP projects; the projects listed below do, however, offer potential to accommodate some of the affiliated training demand in the Borough. Whilst the proposals do not meet the identified shortfall based on affiliated demand, it is recommended that future iterations of the plan address this when additional land / development opportunities become available. As they stand, the proposed schemes take account of areas of high population density, existing demand, geographic spread and the quality of, and access to, existing facilities. Full supply and demand analysis will be conducted at application feasibility stage.

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, many 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 13 grass pitch sites in Sutton with three or more full-size pitch equivalents (or with fewer than three pitches but deemed to be of strategic importance). These contain 43 grass pitches.

Of the 13 key pitch sites referenced, four are prioritised for improvements. This will affect a total of 13 pitches. This number is relatively low when considering the number of grass pitch sites in Sutton, however, as there is no PPS in place currently it is recommended that a full needs assessment be undertaken in due course to identify where improvements are required across the borough. In addition to the 13 grass pitch sites identified above, there are two new sites; St Helier Open Space and Wrythe Recreation Ground that also require pitch improvements. There is potential here to develop up to six full size equivalent pitches across the two.

In addition, Sport England is currently one year into the trial of a hybrid pitch at Regents Park in City of Westminster. Early results are very positive and it is presently accommodating 25-30 hours usage per week (some adult, some junior football). There is potential for further hybrid pitch development at David Weir Leisure Centre. It should be noted that hybrid pitches are not currently eligible for funding from Football Foundation until the results of the ongoing trials are analysed and published.

Sites listed were identified through club and Local Authority consultation. This highlighted common issues associated with poor pitch quality which should, post PPS implementation, be addressed.

Seven priority projects for potential investment are identified. Prioritisation was informed by local partners with the rationale of selecting sites in the poorest condition, that had the most pitches and that are, or have the potential to be, best-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 13 key grass pitch sites in Sutton with three or more full-size pitch equivalents (or with fewer than three pitches but deemed to be of strategic importance), nine have suitable changing rooms and four 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 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 no indoor facilities presently require improvement to develop small sided football.

One potential opportunity to develop a MUGA is identified. This site is in an area with high population density and corresponding high local demand for informal football.

Following local consultation, and assisted by the Sport England green spaces mapping tool six locations are identified to support small sided informal football. Here, the rationale is based on locating provision at popular local parks and/or open green spaces with suitable space/areas 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:

• Chairman – Worcester Park Athletic Club
• Club Representative - Cheam Sports (survey response)
• Club Representative - Roundshaw & District Colts FC (survey response)
• Community Development Manager (Sutton Sports Village) – GLL
• Contract Manager - ID Verde
• Deputy Chief Executive Officer - Palace for Life Foundation
• Engagement Manager - Football Foundation
• Football Development Manager - Surrey FA
• Head of Parks & Open Spaces - LB Sutton
• Manager - Community Action Sutton
• Manager - Sutton CVS
• Operations Director – Sutton Housing Partnership
• Promoting Independence Manager – LB Sutton
• Relationship Manager - London Sport
• Secretary – A.F.C Lanes
• Secretary – Carshalton Athletic FC
• Secretary – Coulsdon Athletic Youth
• Secretary – Sutton Little League
• Secretary – Sutton Futsal League
• Strategic Planning Manager - LB Sutton
• Technical Services Manager - LB Sutton