Local Football Facility Plan Trafford

Trafford is in the North West region.

The current population of the Authority (ONS 2017 Mid-Year Estimate) is 235,493, which is expected to rise to 262,322 by 2039.

25.2% of the Trafford population is within NS SEC classification 6-8 (lower socio-economic groups).

This figure is below the national average (30.6%)

Trafford’s ethnic composition is primarily classed as White (85.0%) which is comparable to the national average (85.4%).

The proportion of Trafford’s population represented by the BAME community is 14.5%. This is similar to the national average of 14.6%.

Local Authority

Trafford Council’s Sports and Physical Activity Strategy (2018) sets out a bold ambition to get every resident moving more, everyday. A key element to the Strategy is to ensure there are better green spaces and places to be physically active. This is demonstrated by the significant proposed investment into key leisure centres.

The Local Authority has a Playing Pitch Strategy (PPS) in place, which was adopted in 2017 and refreshed in 2019.The refresh identified that there is generally spare capacity on grass football pitches, especially for adult 11 v 11 football. This is, however, created by clubs purposefully underusing pitches in order to maintain the quality. The refresh also identified that there is a shortfall of ten community available 3G FTPs.

County Football Association

Trafford is covered by both Manchester and Cheshire County FAs which provide governance and development support to all aspects of local football including coaches, referees, volunteers, clubs and leagues; supporting football for all. The County FAs have 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 Club Community Organisations (CCOs)

These continue to expand and enhance their range of community delivery, offering a variety of programmes and services to support local communities (sporting and non-sporting). The Manchester United Foundation, through its Hub School’s Programme, runs a variety of health, education, engagement, football and sporting activities. The Foundation currently operates from Stretford High School.

Local leisure operator

Trafford Leisure (CIC) currently operates the Council’s leisure facilities. It manages six leisure centres at Stretford, Sale, Altrincham, Partington, George H Carnell and Urmston. It also manages two 3G FTPs at Stretford High School and Partington Sports Village.

Both pitches are reported to be very popular, with high affiliated and recreational use recorded at both. Partington Sports Village also hosts a number of key leagues, including the Timperley & District Junior League.

Local consultation

This has taken place with a broad and diverse set of community groups in Trafford. 15 individuals (representing 14 local organisations) were consulted. These include:

• Trafford Council
• Trafford Leisure Trust
• Manchester United Foundation
• The Urban Fitness Collective (TUF*C)
• A range of football clubs- see appendix for full list.

(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. Trafford has a total of 601 teams, which is higher than 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 Trafford 18 clubs have more than 10 registered teams. The largest of these (based upon 2017-18 affiliation data) includes:

• Altrincham FC Juniors 58 teams
• Urmston Meadowside 48 teams
• Sale United 45 teams
• Hale United FC 44 teams
• Broadheath Central JFC 39 teams
• Unicorn Athletic JFC 29 teams
• Timperley Villa Youth 27 teams
• Flixton Juniors 27 teams
• Ashton On Mersey JFC 25 teams

23 leagues operate across Trafford. They offer competitive opportunities for many different players, including women and girls, disability, youth and adults.

Trafford's largest local leagues (2017-18) include:

• Timperley & District Junior Football League - 227 teams - home and away fixtures
• South Manchester Girls League - 117 teams - central venue
• Altrincham & District Amateur League - 12 teams - home and away fixtures

Manchester County FA reports that there is some cross boundary migration in Trafford due to teams migrating outwards to leagues and competitions in Manchester and other adjoining CFA areas.

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 Trafford there is currently 33 football teams 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. Trafford has four FA Wildcats girls football centres and the priority is to grow this activity.

At 47, Trafford’s number of female teams is higher than 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 South Manchester Girls League with matches played on a central venue and home and away basis. The league is expected to grow its provision in future years with the new division starting 2018-19 season. The local adult female league is the Cheshire Women's and Youth football League and matches are played on a home and away basis and is expected to grow its provision in future years.

For talented players, the most local FA Regional Talent Clubs (RTC) are at Manchester United and Manchester City which are located in the North West. 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 United and Manchester City which provide 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 & 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:

• Powerplay, Altrincham
• Leisure Leagues,
• Altrincham Leisure Centre
• Fives (Former Trafford Powerleague)

Futsal is an exciting, fast-paced, small sided team game that is widely played across the world. Typically it’s played on an indoor surface with hockey-sized goals and a size four football with reduced ball bounce. It is the FAs aim to ensure Futsal is available across the country.

There are currently no futsal teams that play in Trafford. It is a priority for the County FA to grow Futsal for youth 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 no FA Just Play Centres currently in Trafford.

Walking football sessions are delivered by a range of community organisation such as Community Trust, grassroots club, local councils and independent groups. Walking football and Just Play are areas that the County FA has prioritised further growth and development.

Other local recreational football programmes include pro-club community scheme activity / casual bookings which are delivered by a range of organisations.

The key strengths of local football in Trafford include women and girls, youth football provision and it is recommend that this is 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 mini soccer girls at U7 and U8, youth futsal, adult Sunday, flexi 11s and disability football.

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

1. Female growth in foundation age from U7
2. Continued expansion of the Flexi 11s
3. Youth futsal provision
4. Continued expansion and development of female leagues in the Authority, including the South Manchester Girls League and the Cheshire Girls League.
5. Minimum operating standards for grassroots youth football leagues
6. Recreational alternatives such as Just Play and walking football
7. Increased accessibility to disability football at grassroots clubs

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

Additionally, 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 Trafford. 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 inline with four investment priorities:

1. 3G FTPs
2. Improved grass pitches
3. Changing room pavilions / clubhouses
4. 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 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.

Existing community available full sized 3G FTPs in Trafford :

• Stretford Sports Village
• Partington Sports Village
• Blessed Thomas Holford Catholic College

Additionally, there are currently five small-sided 3G FTP sites in Trafford:

• Flixton Girls School
• Walton Park Sports Ground
• Old Trafford Sports Barn;
• Broomwood Park;
• Fives (Formally Powerleague Trafford)

Sale Sharks has been granted planning permission for a World Rugby complaint 3G pitch at its training ground in Carrington. The site will be predominantly used for rugby, and will offer limited availability for football, therefore this plan will not acknowledge this proposed project in the total supply.

Trafford Council has recently had a PPS refresh undertaken. The document indicates that there is a shortfall of 10 full size 3G FTPs, which is based on the latest affiliation data (2018/19) and the FA training demand model of 1:38. The shortfall is broken down into the following analysis areas:

• North- 0 pitches
• Central- 4 pitches
• South- 3 pitches
• West- 3 pitches

There are three full sized pitches (listed above) which are available for community use. In addition, there are a further three 3G FTPs in the Authority, which do not allow for community use. These are listed below:

• Sale Grammar (no floodlights)
• Manchester United training facility (only available for club use)
• Saint Ambrose College (No plans to allow for community use)

One small FTP, Flixton Girls School (60mx40m) is on the FA Register for 3G FTPs (meaning it is quality checked and can be used for football match play). However, none of the full size FTPs are, and it is strongly recommend that these are also added to the register to enable more match play on 3G.

The geographical spread of existing facilities is uneven across the Authority, with provision gaps particularly in the central area around Sale and Timperley. This is despite high levels of population and clubs with large numbers of affiliated teams in this area.

Local consultation also supports the significant shortfall in 3G FTPs in Trafford. Consultation indicates that some teams are training in neighbouring authorities. For example, Altrincham Football Club currently trains at Wright Robinson School in Manchester. In addition, a number of large clubs (e.g. Sale United), aspire to have a 3G FTP on their home site.

Ten priority projects for potential investment are identified through the steering group. This is broken down into eight full sized 3G FTPS and two small sided projects.

Below presents the area breakdown of the proposed full sized 3G FTPs in relation to the identified shortfall from the PPS.

North- Stretford Grammar (creates a surplus of one full size 3G FTP)

Central- Crossford Bridge, Mersey Valley Sports Club (shortfall of two full size FTPs remains)

South- Manor Farm, Blessed Thomas Holford, Altrincham Boys Grammar (no remaining shortfall)

West- Wellacre Academy, Partington Sports Village (shortfall of one full size FTP remains)

This plan acknowledges there is still a shortfall of two full sized 3G FTPs, and is recommended that any future projects should be focused in the central or west analysis areas, where shortfalls will still exist following the development of the eight full sized projects.

Playing fields are one of the most important resource 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 standard and 1 in 6 games are 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 resource 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.

In many local areas the key challenge is to create a sustainable approach to provide good quality football pitches for the long-term. Many 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 26 grass pitch sites in Trafford with three or more full-size pitch equivalents (or with fewer than three pitches but deemed to be of strategic importance). Of these, 11 are considered to have good quality pitches, and 15 contain pitches that are of either standard or poor quality. All 15 have been prioritised. This will result in quality improvements to 68 pitches.

Local consultation confirms the poor quality of pitches at certain strategic sites and this plan seeks to address this.

15 priority projects for potential investment are identified. Pitch quality rating was evidenced by the PPS and ratified by local partners. Prioritisation was based on a rationale of selecting sites with significant numbers of pitches rated as either poor or standard.

These can provide a number of different benefits. While the primary function is normally the provision of changing rooms to accommodate match-play and training (for players and officials), there can be equal value in facilities such as community and education rooms, catering facilities and spectator toilets.

Each project will take a progressive approach to pavilions and clubhouses (beyond the provision of changing rooms) and be open to new opportunities to engage the whole community. That means, creating environments that are welcoming to players, spectators, volunteers, officials and all sections of the community.

Such assets should support other investment priorities (e.g. 3G FTPs and grass pitches) and be located at sites that will have the greatest impact on local communities. To ensure this, focus is given to sites with three or more full-size pitch equivalents. However, as pitch quality is the number one priority for players this is prioritised before investment in changing room pavilions /clubhouses.

Clearly, facilities need to be well managed and maintained to keep them in a good state of repair. Consideration will be given to reviewing the best operator solution for key sites and the installation of revenue generating features such as catering facilities and community rooms. To achieve this, business plan support will be given to each priority project as it progresses to an application to the Football Foundation.

Of the 26 key grass pitch sites in Trafford with three or more full-size pitch equivalents (or with fewer than three pitches but deemed to be of strategic importance), 17 have suitable changing rooms, five require improvement/replacement and four have no facilities and need new changing provision.

Nine 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 & 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 reveals there is one indoor facility that requires improvement to develop small-sided football. Sale High School sports hall is rated as poor quality, however it is popular for recreational football and handball and investment could benefit both sports.

Local consultation indicates no multi use games area/parks and open spaces presently require investment to develop recreational football.

• Leisure Officer: Trafford Council
• Planning Officer : Trafford Council
• Football Development Officer: Trafford Leisure Trust
• Parks and Countryside Manager- AMEC Foster Wheeler
• Community Manager: TUF*C
• Foundation Manager: Manchester United Foundation
• Community Manager: University Academy 92
• Club Chairman: Ashton on Mersey Football Club
• Club Chairman: Sale United
• Club Chairman: Old Alts FC
• Club Chairman: Broadheath FC
• Club Chairman: Timperley Villa
• Club Chairman: Altrincham FC
• Club Chairman: Brooklands Dragons FC
• Club Chairman: Flixton Juniors