Local Football Facility Plan Swale

Swale is in the South East Region.

The current population of the Authority (ONS 2018 Mid-Year Estimate) is 146,694. This is expected to rise to 175,123 by 2039.

Swale is ranked seven out of 67 LAs in the region, and 88 out of 317 LAs nationally on the Indices of Multiple Deprivation (ONS).

Its ethnic composition is primarily white (96.55%). This is higher than the national average (85.4%).

The proportion of Swale’s population represented by the BAME community is 3.45%. This is significantly below the national average (14.6%)

Local authority

The Swale Borough Council Local Plan was adopted in 2017. It sets out the vision and framework for development in the Borough until 2031. With a predicted growing population the Local Plan seeks to ensure that important infrastructure is in place to support future need such as new homes, employment, healthcare, transport and leisure; while protecting the Borough's important and valued green spaces and heritage assets.

Its Playing Pitch Strategy was developed in 2012 and reviewed in 2015. At that time it highlighted an under-supply of youth grass pitches. It should be noted that the PPS has not, as yet, been refreshed with new affiliation data and is now considered to be out of date.

County football association

Swale is covered by the Kent County FA. It provides governance for, and development support to, all aspects of local football including coaches, referees, volunteers, clubs and leagues; supporting football for all. The County FA has a designated facilities investment lead officer who works to ensure the right facilities are located in the right locations.

Football Foundation

The Regional Engagement Manager and Regional Technical Project Manager at the Football Foundation work collaboratively with the County FA to provide pre-application support to priority projects for potential investment.

Sport England

Has a network of planning managers who have a statutory role in the planning system to protect playing fields and provide consultation responses to planning applications relating to sporting facilities . They also play a key role in strategic planning for sports facilities, providing advice and support to local authorities to assess need for facilities in their local area.

Professional community club organisations (CCOs)

These offer a variety of programmes and services to support local communities (sporting and non-sporting). The Charlton FC Community Trust runs a variety of health, education, engagement, football and sporting activities in the local area.

Local leisure operator

Leisure facilities in Swale are operated in-house by the Authority. The stock includes indoor football facilities at Swallows Leisure Centre.

Local consultation

This has taken place with a broad and diverse set of community groups in Swale. 24 individuals (representing 22 local organisations) were spoken to. The agencies consulted include:

• Sittingbourne School
• Faversham Town FC
• Woodcombe Youth 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. Swale has a total of 297 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 Swale, ten clubs have more than ten registered teams. These (based upon 2019-20 affiliation data) are:

• Bredhurst Juniors - 25 teams
• Faversham Strike Force – 22 teams
• Faversham Town Youth - 16 teams
• Iwade Herons - 15 teams
• Milton And Fulston Utd – 19 teams
• New Road - 15 teams
• Range Rovers – 17 teams
• Sittingbourne Lions Junior -13 teams
• Sittingbourne Youth - 10 teams
• Woodcoombe Youth -16 teams

Leagues

Three leagues cater for clubs and teams in Swale. They offer competitive opportunities for adults. While there are no specific league opportunities for disability or women and girls, suitable provision is made via county wide leagues. The main local leagues (2019-20) are:

• Faversham & District Youth Football League – 109 teams – home and away
• Sheppey Sunday Football League – 18 teams – home and away
• Kent Disability Football League – 65 teams – home and away

The County FA reports significant cross boundary migration to/from Swale due to teams playing in the:

• Ashford & District Football League
• Ashford And District Youth League
• Crowborough & District Junior Football League
• Isthmian Youth Football League
• Kent County Football League
• Kent Disability Football League
• Kent Girls/Ladies Football League
• Kent Youth League
• National League U19 Alliance
• Rochester & District Football League
• Sevenoaks And District Football League
• South East Counties Women's League
• Southern Counties East Football League
• The National League
• West Kent Sunday League
  

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 Swale there are 16 football teams / sessions specifically for people with a disability. It is a priority of the County FA to sustain 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. Swale has two FA Wildcats girls football centres and the priority is to sustain this activity.

At 22, Swale’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 Kent Girls/Ladies Football 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 leagues are the Kent Girls/Ladies Football League and South East Counties Womens League. It too plays matches on a home and away basis and is expected to grow provision in future years.

For talented players, the most local FA Regional Talent Club (RTC) is Gillingham FC which is located in Swale. 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 Brighton & Hove Albion Women 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.

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 affiliated futsal teams in Swale.

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 four FA Just Play centres in Swale. Walking football sessions are delivered by a range of community organisations such as Total Sports Coaching and Faversham Strike Force FC. Walking football and Just Play are County FA priorities for further growth and development. Other local recreational football programmes include Soccer Elite FA as well as Kick 2 Fit which is delivered by Kent FA.

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).

The key strengths of local football in Swale include youth and mini soccer provision and it is recommended that this is sustained and also encouraged to grow further. However, provision gaps do exist; these include adult male 11v11 teams, youth futsal and informal football. It is therefore recommended that the future football development priorities for Swale are to:

1. Support the transition of youth teams and players to progress to play in adult male 11v11 leagues.
2. Grow youth futsal provision.
3. Ensure that club structures are in place to grow in line with planned housing growth.
4. Develop comprehensive support to volunteers to allow clubs to retain, grow and provide opportunity to all.
5. Increase women and girls provision via delivery of informal ladies sessions and FA Wildcats programme.

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 Swale. 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.

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

• The Abbey School
• Oasis Academy (Isle of Sheppey)
• Sittingbourne School (Sittingbourne Community College)

In addition there is one small-sided 3G FTP at King Georges Playing Field (one 7v7)

All are on the FA Register for 3G FTPs (i.e. they have been quality checked and passed for use for football match play) and all are available for community use. Those at the Oasis Academy and King Georges Playing Field (Faversham) are both approaching the end of their respective lifespan and are in need of resurfacing.

As noted above, the Authority's PPS was produced in 2012 and has not been updated. As a result, demand for full sized 3G FTPs has been calculated solely using FA 3G demand modelling (1:38). Based upon assessed demand, there is a shortfall of five full-sized 3G FTPs.

In addition, the Swale Borough Council Local Plan highlights that up to five large housing development sites will be brought to fruition in the future. This includes significant developments in the Sittingbourne and Faversham areas. The exact scale and composition of these is not, as yet, wholly determined, however, it should be noted that they will have an impact on demand for facilities right across the Swale Borough Council area.

The geographic spread of 3G facilities is fairly even. However, there is substantial unmet demand for affiliated football in the Sittingbourne, Faversham and Isle of Sheppey areas. Local consultation confirms issues faced in respect of facility hire costs and limited availability and the recommendations set out in this plan are designed to help address this. It is recommended that any future 3G FTP developments (full and/or small sided) are assessed and placed on the register to ensure quality and enable more match play on 3G).

Five priority projects for potential investment are identified;

• Two new full-sized 3G FTPs
• One small sided 3G FTP
• One full sized 3G FTP refurbishment
• One small sided 3G FTP refurbishment.

Whilst these will not wholly meet the identified full-sized 3G FTP shortfall of five (based on affiliated demand) it is recommended that future iterations of the plan address this if and when land/development opportunity becomes available and an updated PPS identifies more specific requirements. Further to this one of the identified projects is identified as an either/or option and one presents an area wide option and will necessitate feasibility appraisal to determine the best location.

It should be noted that LFFP consultation and discussions did not result in the identification of a clear favoured location for full size 3G FTP development in the Sittingbourne area. The project detailed below at Sittngbourne School is based upon installing small sided provision to complement the existing full size 3G FTP. The prevailing view is that a small sided development here has potential to address the training demand shortfall.

Options proposed were selected based upon site availability and the need to service affiliated football and key settlements:

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 20 grass pitch sites in Swale with three or more full-size pitch equivalents (or with fewer than three pitches but deemed to be of strategic importance). These contain 61 grass pitches.

In addition to the existing sites identified above, one new site; Love Lane, also requires pitch investment.

Local consultation confirms common issues associated with poor pitch quality to address. It should be noted that Kent FA and Swale Borough Council have scheduled a significant number of pitch improvement plan site visits (PIP) at local authority sites in the County (further information is provided below in the project listing). The PIP reports for these sites will help to determine the required works. It should be stressed that further analysis is required once the PIP visits have been completed, in order to determine where investment may be best placed.

Of the 20 key pitch sites referenced above it was determined that 13 should be prioritised. This will result in quality improvements to 32 pitches:

13 priority projects for potential investment are identified. This will result in quality improvements to 32 pitches.

Due the absence of an up to date PPS, pitch quality ratings were evidenced via recent PIP reports and club/council consultation. Prioritisation was based on a rationale of selecting sites in poor condition, that were, or offered the potential to be, best utilised and which serve key local communities:

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 20 key grass pitch sites in Swale with three or more full-size pitch equivalents (or with fewer than three but deemed to be of strategic importance) 16 have suitable changing rooms, three require improvement/replacement and one has no facilities and requires a new changing pavilion.

In addition, there is a requirement for a new pavilion at Love Lane, a site due to come online at some point over the next three years.

Five priority projects for potential investment are identified (including the Love Lane site). Prioritisation was informed by local partners with the rationale of selecting sites deemed to have unsuitable changing facilities which need to be replaced/refurbished or sites requiring new provision to support participation or other facility development:

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 no indoor facilities presently require improvement to develop small-sided football.

One potential opportunity to develop a MUGA was identified. This 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 no locations have been identified to support small sided informal football.

A range of local agencies and larger (usually 10 plus teams) local football clubs were invited to participate in the LFFP consultation. Those that contributed are listed below:

• Club representative - Bredhurst Juniors FC (survey)
• Club representative - Dawes Hernhill Herons FC (survey)
• Club representative - Faversham Strike Force FC
• Club representative - Faversham Town Youth FC
• Club representative - Faversham Town FC
• Club representative - Little Sharstead FC (survey)
• Club representative - New Inn FC (survey)
• Club representative - New Road FC
• Club representative - Park Regis FC
• Club representative - Sheerness East Youth FC
• Club representative - Sittingbourne Ladies FC
• Club representative - Sittingbourne Lions JFC
• Club representative - White Horse FC (survey)
• Club representative - Woodcombe Youth FC
• Community (Sport & Physical Activity Officer) - Swale Borough Council
• Engagement Manager - Football Foundation
• Finance Manager - Queen Elizabeth Grammar School
• Football Development Manager - Kent FA
• Fundraising & Partnerships Manager - Kent Sport
• Green Spaces Manager - Swale Borough Council
• Head of Community - CAFC Community Trust
• Leisure Manager - Swale Borough Council
• Parks & Open Spaces Manager - Maidstone Borough Council
• Principal - Sittingbourne School