Local Football Facility Plan Uttlesford

Uttlesford is in the Eastern region.

The current population of the authority (ONS 2017 Mid-Year Estimate) is 87,684. This is expected to rise to 105,116 by 2039.

Uttlesford is ranked 43 out of 47 LAs in the region, and 297 out of 326 LAs nationally on the Indices of Multiple Deprivation (ONS).

Uttlesford's ethnic composition is primarily white (96.62%). This is higher than the national average (85.4%).

The proportion of its population represented by the BAME community is 3.38%. This is significantly below the national average (14.6%).

Local authority

The Uttlesford Council Corporate Plan (2017 - 2021) outlines clearly the Council intent to “Work together for the well-being of our community and to protect and enhance the unique character of the District.” This is being achieved by a focus on the following priorities:

• Promoting thriving, safe and healthy communities.
• Protecting and enhancing heritage and character.
• Supporting sustainable business growth.
• Maintaining a financially sound and effective Council.

Within the strand of thriving, safe and healthy communities, proposed actions include:

• Working with the Health and Wellbeing Partnership, to promote healthy lifestyles.
• Working with partners, including the voluntary sector, to reduce social isolation.
• Improving community engagement.
• Promoting garden communities.

The Authority Playing Pitch Strategy is due to be complete by June 2019. Developing themes include a need to provide 3G FTP provision and to improve grass pitch quality. Poor quality pitches are the key contributor to overplay in Uttlesford; 19 of the 22 overplayed sites are rated as poor quality. There is also a need to consider pitch configuration to ensure that teams get to play on the correct pitch size, as recommended by the FA.

County football association

Uttlesford is covered by the Essex 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). Cambridge United Community Trust reportedly runs some participation activity in the Authority .

Local leisure operator

1Life is the key leisure operator in Uttlesford. It currently runs three sports centres, two of which have grass pitches (six in total).

Local consultation

This has taken place with a diverse set of community groups in Uttlesford. 19 individuals (representing 14 local organisations) were spoken to. The agencies consulted include, for example:

• Flitch Green Community Centre
• Priors Green Community Centre
• The Braintree and Uttlesford Community Policing Team

(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. Uttlesford has a total of 169 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 Uttlesford, clubs have more than ten registered teams. These are (based upon 2018-19 affiliation data gathering via the PPS process and signed off by the County FA):

• Dunmow Rhodes FC / Youth / Girls - 20 teams
• Dunmow United FC / Youth - 12 teams
• Elsenham Youth - 17 teams
• Plantation Youth - 11 teams
• Saffron Walden Community Youth / PSG Girls - 39 teams
• Saffron Walden PSG - 10 teams

Leagues

No leagues operate specifically within Uttlesford. The Essex County Girls League, Womens League, Greene King Veterans League and the Essex Soccability League operate on a county wide basis and serve teams from within Uttlesford.

The County FA reports significant cross boundary migration to/from Uttlesford and out of the county due to local teams playing in Cambridgeshire Mini Soccer League and the Cambridge and District Colts 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 Uttlesford there are no 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. Uttlesford has no FA Wildcats girls football centres and the priority is to grow this activity.

At 7, Uttlesford’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 Essex County Girls 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 league is the Essex County Womens League. It too plays matches on a home and away basis while it is expected to sustain its provision in future years.

For talented players, the most local FA Regional Talent Club (RTC) is the Essex County Regional Talent Centre which is located in Colchester . Higher level talent pathway opportunities are also provided regionally and nationally by the FA, culminating in the England Women’s national squads. The nearest Women’s Super League team is West Ham United Ladies 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.

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 Premier Fives in Saffron Walden

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 one futsal team in Uttlesford. It is a priority for the County FA to grow the sport for youth (boys and girl 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 is currently no FA Just Play centre in Uttlesford. Walking football and Just Play have been prioritised by the County FA for growth and development. Other local recreational football programmes include other recreation programmes e.g. pro-club community scheme activity / casual bookings which are delivered by a range of organisations including the Cambridge United Community Trust.

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 Uttlesford is played across local parks within the local authority.

The key strengths of local football in Uttlesford include youth female and youth male provision and it is recommend that this is sustained and encouraged to grow further. However, provision gaps do exist, these include disability and futsal. It is, therefore, recommended that the future football development priorities for Uttlesford are:

1.Look to start disability sessions within the LA

2.Grow the adult female team numbers

3.Develop a futsal offer through affiliated football and recreational formats

4.Provide a localised Wildcats Centre offer

5.Provide a recreational offer for all demographics

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

It is important to note that 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 Uttlesford. 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 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.

There are currently no full sized 3G FTPs in Uttlesford. One small size 3G FTP exists in Uttlesford, this is located at Rodings Primary School; however, this is unavailable for community use.

Uttlesford has an emerging PPS which is due to be completed by June 2019. The PPS indicates that there is a shortfall of four full size 3G FTPs. This is based on the FA training demand model, suggesting there is a need for one full size 3G FTP for every 38 teams within a local authority area. This shortfall is anticipated to increase to five based on predicted future demand.

It is strongly recommended that any future 3G FTPs developed in the area are on the FA register (meaning they are quality checked and can be used for football match play). Development of full-sized 3G FTPs at key locations will enable larger clubs such as Saffron Walden Community FC to be accommodated across fewer sites and aid club organisation and cohesion.

Local consultation reveals common issues with low availability and long travel distances to access provision and it is recommended that these are addressed.

Five priority projects for potential investment have been identified which include six potential full size 3G FTPs (accounting for the double pitch proposal at Saffron Waldon County High School). Each site was selected based upon a rationale of good access, high population and geographic spread.

A number of the identified projects are identified as either/or options, as feasibility to determine the best locations is still required. There is also a need to consider some of these projects in line with potential projects in neighboring authorities of Chelmsford and North East Hertfordshire.

There are currently ten grass pitch sites in Uttlesford with three or more full-size pitch equivalents (or with fewer than 3 pitches but deemed to be of strategic importance). These contain 25 grass pitches. Of these, three sites are considered to have standard quality pitches and seven sites are considered to have poor quality pitches.

Six sites are prioritised for improvement; this will affect a total of 13 pitches. Two venues; Herberts Farm and Flitch Green Community Centre have already received a visit as part of the Pitch Improvement Programme and will require ongoing investment and improvement.

The proposals made will address issues relating to poor pitch quality in the Authority as identified through the recent PPS and LFFP consultation.

Six priority projects for potential investment are identified. Pitch quality rating was evidenced by the PPS and qualified by local partners. Prioritisation was based upon a rationale of selecting sites in the poorest condition, that are, or have the potential to be, well-utilised and reflect the emerging PPS strategic focus.

Of the ten key grass pitch sites in Uttlesford with three or more full-size pitch equivalents (or with fewer than 3 pitches but of strategic importance), seven have suitable changing rooms and three require improvement/replacement. Two sites, which are yet to be developed would require new changing provision.

Five priority projects for potential investment are, therefore, 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 did not reveal any indoor facilities that currently require improvement to develop small sided football.

One potential opportunity for a MUGA is identified. It will service a specifically identified local community in Saffron Walden.

Following local consultation, no current locations are identified to support small-sided 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 - Dunmow Rhodes Youth FC
• Braintree & Uttlesford Community Police
• Chairman - Dunmow Rhodes Youth FC
• Secretary - Dunmow United FC
• Chairman - Elsenham Youth FC
• Flitch Green Community Centre
• Owner - Neil O'Sullivan Sports
• Chairman - Plantation Youth FC
• Priors Green Community Centre
• Chairman - Takeley FC
• Chairman - Saffron Walden Community Youth FC
• Vise Chairman - Saffron Walden Community Youth FC
• Chairman - Saffron Walden PSG FC
• Chairman - Standsted FC
• Secretary - Standsted FC
• Communities, Health and Wellbeing Manager - Uttlesford District Council
• Customer Services and Performance Manager - Uttlesford District Council
• Senior Development Officer (East Kettering) - Uttlesford District Council
• Senior Health Improvement Officer - Uttlesford District Council
• Senior Planning Officer - Uttlesford District Council