Local Football Facility Plan Tameside

Demographics for the area can be seen below:

Local authority

Tameside has a Playing Pitch & Outdoor Sport Strategy (PPOSS) completed in 2022 but under review by the Council and not yet adopted. The PPOSS evidences that the existing position across all pitch sports is either that demand is currently being met or there is a shortfall, including capacity shortfalls for grass football pitches and 3G AGPs.

Places for Everyone

Places for Everyone is a long-term plan of nine Greater Manchester districts (Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Tameside, Trafford and Wigan) for jobs, new homes, and sustainable growth. It has been published by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) on behalf of the nine districts, which together will deliver a minimum total of 164,880 net additional dwellings over the period 2021-2037. There are two strategic housing allocation sites proposed within Tameside as part of Places for Everyone, both located in the east of the Borough at Godley Green (2,350 new homes) and Land South of Hyde (440 new homes), each requiring new infrastructure and supporting facilities. Development of new sports provision could be required at Godley Green, with increased capacity required within the local school network.

County Football Association

Tameside is covered by Manchester County FA and Cheshire FA, with some clubs also affiliating to Lancashire FA. They provide governance for, and development support to, all aspects of local football including coaches, referees, volunteers, clubs and leagues; supporting football for all. The County FAs have designated facilities investment lead officers who work to ensure 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). The Manchester United Foundation and Curzon Ashton Community Trust both run a variety of health, education, engagement, football and sporting activities within the local area.

Local leisure operator

Tameside Sports Trust (trading as Active Tameside) is a charitable organisation contracted by Tameside Borough Council to manage and operate its key leisure facilities/services in the Borough. Active Tameside currently operates seven fitness centres, five swimming pools and two leisure attractions.

The latest Active Tameside Strategy ‘Inspiring People to Live Well & Feel Great’ (2016-2024) sets out its ambition to be the “go to” organisation to conquer inactivity and improve healthy life expectancy in Tameside.

Active Tameside manages small size 3G AGPs at Active Medlock, Active Copley and Active Ken Ward, whilst the latter also has grass football pitch provision.

Local consultation

Local consultation took place with a broad and diverse set of community groups in the original LFFP (2018). As part of the update process, a survey was sent via the respective County FA to key football clubs in the area (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. Tameside has a total of 450 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 Tameside, 15 clubs have more than 10 registered teams. The largest of these (based upon 2022/23 affiliation data) are:

• Curzon Ashton – 50 teams
• Droylsden Youth Centre - 48 teams
• Denton Youth – 47 teams
• Hyde United FC - 37 teams
• Dukinfield Youth JFC - 31 teams
• Stalybridge Celtic Juniors - 29 teams
• Dukinfield Tigers - 25 teams
• Brendon Bees – 24 teams
• Mossley Juniors – 21 teams
• West End AFC – 21 teams
• Waterloo AFC - 19 teams
• Hollingworth Juniors & Old Boys – 18 teams
• AFC Stanley Juniors – 14 teams
• Hattersley JFC - 13 teams
• Ashton United FC - 13 teams

Leagues

Five leagues operate in Tameside. They offer a range of competitive opportunities for youth and adults players. There are no specific league opportunities for disability and girls within Tameside, although suitable provision is made in neighbouring and nearby authorities including Oldham and Salford. Tameside's largest local leagues (2022/23) include:

• East Manchester Junior Football League: 1,140 teams - central venues at multiple sites, most across Manchester and Tameside
• Tameside Football League: 63 teams – home and away format

The County FAs report that there is some cross boundary migration into and out of Tameside due to teams migrating out to play in the North Manchester Girls League (in Oldham) and the Greater Manchester Ability Counts League (in Salford). There is also significant inward and outward migration from teams, evident to varying degrees in all Greater Manchester local authorities, to the East Manchester Junior Football League (EMJFL) and the Tameside Football League.

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 Tameside there are two football teams run specifically for people with a disability. It is a priority of the County FAs to grow this provision. For talented players the FA run 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. Tameside has two FA Wildcats girls football centres 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.

At 35, Tameside’s number of female teams is lower than local areas of a similar size, though many girls play in mixed mini soccer teams. 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 North Manchester Girls League and matches are played on both a home and away and central venue basis, thought most girls teams affiliating to Cheshire FA play within the Stockport division of the Cheshire Girls Football League where matches are played on a 3G AGP at a central venue in Stockport. Both leagues are expected to grow their provision in future years. The local adult female league is the Greater Manchester Women’s League within which matches are played on a home and away basis. It too is expected to grow provision in future years.

For talented players, the nearest FA Regional Talent Club (RTC) is Manchester City which is located in Manchester. 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 Manchester City; it 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 AGPs or small-sided 3G centres. Key local providers include:

• Summer Football League
• Active Tameside
• Leisure Leagues
• Soccer Zone

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 Tameside. Walking football sessions are delivered by a range of community organisations including Curzon Ashton FC. Walking football and Just Play are programmes that the County FA has prioritised for further growth and development. Other local recreational football activity offered includes pro-club community scheme activity and casual bookings which are delivered by a range of organisations including CITC.

The key strengths of local football in Tameside include adult league and junior league 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 those commonly found in local authorities of a similar size, such as disability football.

It is therefore recommended that the future football development priorities for Tameside are:

1. Increasing female participation
2. Growth of disability football
3. Sustaining and growing adult male league provision
4. Continuing to grow youth league 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. 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 pitches 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. All 3G pitches must have sports lighting and offer a broad programme of community use 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 pitches 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. An 11v11 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 women and girls, low socio-economic groups, people with disabilities and culturally diverse communities. The way 3G pitches are used allows for match play across all formats of football (5v5, 7v7, 9v9 and 11v11). This enables match play to be transferred from grass to 3G as well as being a fantastic asset for training. Only pitches on The FA 3G Register can accommodate affiliated match play (meaning they are quality checked). It is strongly recommended that all pitches are registered.

Although Football Foundation investment will always be football led, 3G pitches offer a fantastic opportunity to support other sports, particularly traditional grass pitch sports. Where appropriate, and through engagement with other NGBs, projects below will include potential multisport opportunities.

There are ten 11v11 3G AGPs in Tameside, of which nine are available for community use. Existing 11v11 3G AGPs in Tameside include:

• Alder Community High School - 91x55m
• Astley Sports Village (Rayner Stephens High School) - 100x64m
• Audenshaw School - 110x67m
• Droylsden Academy - 91x55m
• Great Academy Ashton - 91x55m
• Hyde High School - 91x45m (unavailable for community use)
• Hyde United FC - 107x64m
• Mossley Hollins High School - 91x55m
• St Damien’s RC Science College - 91x55m
• The Tameside Stadium (Curzon Ashton FC) - 100x64m

There are a further 13 smaller size 3G AGPs servicing Tameside, all available for community use. All are smaller than 60mx40m size:

• Active Copley - four pitches
• Active Ken Ward - two pitches
• Active Medlock - four pitches
• Martin Fields
• Rosehill Methodist Community Primary School
• Sunnybank Park

There are plans for the development of 2,350 new homes in the east of the Borough at the Godley Green strategic residential allocation. It is anticipated that the new community will require the development of new infrastructure and facilities, including increased capacity within the school network and could require new playing field provision. An additional new 3G AGP may be required to service this local demand generated directly from housing development, to be reassessed as proposals are brought forward.

Tameside College aspires to develop an 11v11 3G AGP at its Beaufort Road site in Ashton as part of the campus redevelopment. There presently is no grass or AGP provision onsite.

Laurus Ryecroft High School in Droylsden also aspires to develop an 11v11 3G AGP onsite, which would be of senior rugby union pitch dimensions and would be World Rugby compliant to allow for contact rugby union use including match play. The site presently has playing field which includes two grass football pitches, not used by community clubs.

Droylsden Youth FC aspires to develop an 11v11 3G AGP at Sunnybank Park by extending the existing small sided 3G AGP. The Club uses an existing 60x40m 3G AGP onsite previously funded by the Football Foundation as well as the 11v11 3G AGP at Droylsden Academy, however reports it requires access to additional capacity for midweek training.

Tameside has a Playing Pitch & Outdoor Sports Strategy (PPOSS) developed in 2022, which found that "further investigation is required to fully determine the capacity of existing 3G pitches in Tameside and to determine whether there is a need for additional provision." The PPOSS recommends that a 'Task and Finish' Group should be established to fully assess the need for 3G AGPs taking into account existing capacity, revised programming and timetabling opportunities to increase capacity on existing pitches, and location of major housing schemes. The work should help inform what new provision is required and where, and what additional capacity can be created in the existing facilities.

The PPOSS also suggests that based on the FA Training Scenario for 3G AGPs and current and future levels of team demand, there is a potential shortfall of three 11v11 3G AGPs across the Borough at present, increasing to four in future. The scenario suggests a current need for two additional 11v11 3G AGPs in the Denton area and one additional in the Dukinfield and Stalybridge area, with a second additional pitch needed in the latter in future. Priority projects for four new 11v11 3G AGPs have therefore been identified within the LFFP, with more detailed exploration of the nature of existing facility use required to verify case for proposed new pitches before new pitch projects are brought forward. In addition to additional 11v11 3G AGPs proposed, there are also three existing 11v11 3G AGPs which require replacement.

Nine of the ten pitches are available for community use. It is recommended that community use opportunities are explored at Hyde High School, which reportedly had community use until it was withdrawn at the time of the Covid-19 pandemic and not reinstated. Until such time as this has been resolved, this site will be regarded as part of the local 3G AGP supply and demand and no additional/replacement pitch will be identified in lieu of this. Just four are on the FA 3G Pitch Register (meaning they are quality checked and can be used for football match play). It is strongly recommended that the five remaining pitches (Alder Community High School, Droylsden Academy, Great Academy Ashton, Hyde High School, Mossley Hollins High School, St Damian’s RC Science College) are assessed and placed on the 3G Pitch Register to enable more match play on 3G. The 11v11 3G AGP at Alder Community High School and the four small sided 3G AGPs at Active Medlock were also on the FA 3G Pitch Register but have since expired and registration requires renewal.

The geographic spread of existing facilities is relatively even. However, there are no 11v11 3G AGPs in the Denton and Haughton Green areas despite high levels of population and high levels of deprivation in these areas and it is recommended that this is addressed.

Local consultation reveals common issues with low availability for affiliated football team training and it is recommended that these are addressed.

The FA has seen unprecedented growth in football over the last five years, particularly in the youth and women & girls game. Overall participation is estimated to grow year on year, equating to an additional 228 teams by 2030, of which 44 will come from women and girls. This could represent the equivalent of at least six additional 11v11 3G FTPs.

Allowances will be made for in the LFFP for ancillary provision for each pitch if needed, however this is subject to the final agreed location of any additional future provision and an assessment as to whether there are existing suitable facilities available. This is displayed as a future participation growth project below.

The following priority projects for potential investment are identified:

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 organisations, typically 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, organisations 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.

From the time of the original LFFP the introduction of PitchPower has allowed all club owned and leased sites to apply for funding to improve grass pitch maintenance, as well as those managed by others such as the Council but managed directly by clubs.

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:

• Ashton Sixth Form College
• Martin Fields  (Denton Youth)​
• Swineshaw Road Playing Fields (Brushes Rangers FC)
• Waterloo Football Ground (Waterloo AFC)

Denton Youth has also accessed FF funding for new maintenance equipment alongside the revenue funding available through the GPMF to help deliver the maintenance recommendations of the PitchPower report in efforts to improve pitch quality.

There are currently 18 grass pitch sites in the local area that have been identified as either currently maintained, in part or whole, by grassroots clubs or leagues. Fifteen of these club/league maintained sites have been assessed using PitchPower. Together have a total of ten good (or better) quality pitches, nine basic quality and seven poor quality pitches.

The following club owned or operated sites remain a priority for grass pitch investment and may be eligible for the Football Foundation's Grass Pitch Maintenance Fund:

• Stalybridge Celtic Juniors Football Club
• Whittles Park (Denton Town FC)
• Woodhams Park (Dukinfield Town FC)
• Yew Tree Lane Playing Fields (Dukinfield Youth JFC)
• West End Boys & Girls Club​ (West End AFC)
• Brendon Drive Playing Fields (Brendon Bees Junior FC)
• Beyer Peacocks Playing Field (Brendon Bees Junior FC)

The priority now is to concentrate on 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. The Council has undertaken PitchPower assessments across its football pitch portfolio. Fourteen sites managed directly by Tameside Borough Council have been assessed via PitchPower and are known to have five good quality pitches, 11 basic quality and five poor. Through the use of PitchPower, there is an identified the need for new maintenance machinery and equipment for Tameside Borough Council to support ongoing and improved maintenance of grass pitches.

Richmond Street Playing Fields has two football pitches which were not prepared or made available by the Council for use in 2020/21. The ground conditions are wet and the site is operated in tandem with Copperas Playing Fields which suffers from similar quality issues, each site in use once every two seasons. A sports turf agronomy report is required to determine the full extent of the issues, with capital pitch works likely required at each site alongside improved maintenance practices to achieve an improvement in quality and usability.

An existing 11v11 pitch at Longdendale Recreation Centre is proposed to be improved without funding via the Football Foundation. Intention is for the site to be managed in future by Hollingworth Juniors FC. Future funding or machinery to sustain the pitch may be required in future subject to PitchPower assessment of the site once the pitch is reinstated.

There are plans for the development of 2,350 new homes in the east of the Borough at the Godley Green strategic residential allocation. It is anticipated that the new community will require the development of new infrastructure and facilities and may require new playing field provision. Provision at Godley Green would be developed without Football Foundation investment.

Of the key club/league maintained pitch sites referenced above it was determined that eight of these should be prioritised for improvements, along with two education sites. A further two local authority managed sites should be prioritised for improvements, which may hold opportunity for future transfer to club/league-led management and maintenance models. In total this will result in quality improvements to 23 full sized pitch equivalents.

Twelve 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 to improve local authority and club managed pitches, as well as education sites which have community use or could have more.

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. The process of community engagement once a project has been identified means the facility will properly service the local area and it's people, not just for football but potentially for other sports as well. It is essential to speak to female players as part of this process, as the game continues to grow at significant rates, suitable off pitch and ancillary provision for females is essential. It also means, creating environments that are welcoming to players, spectators, volunteers and officials from all sections of the community. See Football Foundation website for design considerations: Changing Pavilion Design Key Considerations | Football Foundation

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 11v11 pitch equivalents. However, as pitch quality is the number one priority for players this is prioritised before investment in changing room pavilions and 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. Where larger scale investment, such as those identified in this section, is not appropriate, small grants are also available to support upgrades and improvements to changing rooms, toilets and clubhouses. See Changing pavilions and clubhouses | Football Foundation

Of the key grass pitch sites that support and deliver grassroots football, as referenced through the steering group, three sites require improvement/refurbishment and one requires new builds/replacement (an additional building to provide changing, clubroom and kitchen space). Projects are included in this section where it is expected that new or refurbished facilities will contribute to strong sport and community outcomes, such as:

• Large multi-pitch sites (often three or more pitches) with significant football usage and poor off pitch facilities;
• A priority site for women and girls;
• Club and community sites;
• Sites with new 3G pitches.

The only local authority managed sites which have accessible onsite pavilion provision are Blocksages Playing Fields, Egmont Street Playing Fields and Garden Street Playing Fields. Blocksages Playing Fields is of strategic importance and is the only local authority site with an operational and accessible pavilion. It is a multi-changing room building at which the Council tries to accommodate all users with demand for changing room provision, mostly men’s adult teams playing in the Tameside Football League on Sunday mornings.

There is a building at Granada Road Playing Field which is not used as a changing pavilion but which could be with some improvement.

Subject to detailed exploration of site options for the possible development of new 3G AGPs, it may be that proposed sites could require the development of new or additional ancillary provision such as car parking, additional changing rooms and/or toilets to service increased use of the site brought about by having a 3G AGP.

The FA has seen unprecedented growth in football over the last five years, particularly in the youth and women & girls game. Overall participation is estimated to grow year on year, equating to an additional 228 teams by 2030, of which 44 will come from women and girls. This could represent the equivalent of at least six additional 11v11 3G FTPs.

Allowances will be made for in the LFFP for ancillary provision for each pitch if needed, however this is subject to the final agreed location of any additional future provision and an assessment as to whether there are existing suitable facilities available. This is displayed as a future participation growth project below.

The list below identifies priority projects for potential investment:

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 Tameside the starting point for priority places, identified through existing local authority work around deprivation and inactivity, is:

• Hattersley
• Oxford Park (Ashton)
• Denton
• Godley
• Longdendale
• Mossley

The key priority groups in Tameside are:

• Women and girls
• People with a limiting illness or disability
• People aged 55 years and over
• Children and young people aged 5 to 18

This priority group of places and people will be ratified through consultation 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.

Active Tameside delivers five Active Through Football sessions in Hattersley, focusing on engaging 35+ year old males who watch football but do not play and women and families aged 16-35. Sessions take place at Active Ken Ward (small sided 3G AGPs), St Barnabas Church and Hattersley Hub (both small indoor halls).

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

• Project Manager (Sport & Leisure Assets and Investment) - Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council
• Greenspace Development Manager - Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council
• Planning Policy Officer - Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council
• Head of Sport & Physical Activity - Active Tameside
• Schools Partnership Manager & FA Girls Football Strategic Lead - Tameside School Sports Partnership
• Chief Operating Officer - Manchester FA
• Facilities Development Officer - Manchester FA
• Facilities & Investment Manager - Cheshire FA
• Head of Facilities & Investment - Lancashire FA
• Planning Manager - Sport England
• Strategic Lead (Partnerships) - GreaterSport
• Football Partnerships Manager - CITC
• Facilities Development Manager (North) – Rugby Football Union
• Facilities Planning Manager (Recreational Game)- England & Wales Cricket Board
• Cricket Development Manager - Lancashire Cricket Foundation
• Facilities Relationship Manager - England Hockey
• National Clubs Manager - Rugby Football League
• Facilities Manager - Rugby Football League
• Ashton Pumas FC - Chairman and Coach
• Ashton United FC - Secretary
• Brendon Bees Junior FC - Secretary
• Denton Town FC - Secretary
• Denton Youth FC - Chairman
• Dom Doyle FC - Secretary
• Dukinfield Youth JFC - Treasurer and Secretary
• Droylsden Youth Centre FC - Treasurer
• Hollingworth Jnrs & Old Boys - Chairman
• Mossley AFC - Finance Director
• Stalybridge Celtic FC - Chairman
• Stalybridge Celtic Junior FC - Secretary