Local Football Facility Plan Warrington

Demographics for the area can be seen below:

Local authority

Local government is responsible for a range of vital services for people and businesses in defined areas, therefore the Local Authority is a key stakeholder in helping to deliver this plan, whether this be through the local planning authority, funding, PPS or community engagement. It must engage with it's communities and encourage community participation in decision-making, while considering the needs of people currently living in communities and those who will live there in the future. This engagement should translate in to the type of facilities that need to be built and for who.

County Football Association

County Football Associations (CFAs) provide governance for, and development support to, all aspects of local football including coaches, referees, volunteers, clubs and leagues; supporting football for all. All CFAs have a designated facilities investment lead officer(s) that works to ensure the right facilities are located in the right locations. For further information visit the CFA website.

Football Foundation

Delivery Managers and Technical Project Managers at the Football Foundation work collaboratively with the CFAs to provide pre-application support and lead on the delivery of priority projects for potential investment. Facility Planning Managers (FPMs) 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)

Supported by facility investment CCOs can offer a variety of programmes and services to support local communities (sporting and non-sporting). They run a variety of health, education, engagement, football and sporting activities within their local areas. Projects identified in the LFFP help CCOs support delivery on a local level.

Local consultation

Local consultation has taken place via the LFFP steering group and a local club survey, except where it is agreed that views have been captured elsewhere (i.e. through a Playing Pitch Strategy). Furthermore, it is a requirement and key element of project development that those which move through to application phase undertake detailed community engagement to ensure that facilities fully serve the communities they are being designed for.

Clubs

There are over 110,000 community football teams in England, spread over an expansive network of clubs and leagues.

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 England Football Accreditation, 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. Locally, the following clubs have more than ten registered teams:

• Appleton AFC - 69 teams
• Woolston Rovers - 53 teams
• Crosfields Juniors - 41 teams
• Lymm Piranhas JFC - 41 teams
• Lymm Rovers Junior - 36 teams
• Whittle Hall - 34 teams
• Cromwell Athletic - 30 teams
• Grappenhall Sports (Juniors) - 29 teams
• Matthiola - 29 teams
• Eagle Juniors - 26 teams
• Rylands - 23 teams
• Culcheth Athletic - 22 teams
• Warrington Town FC - 20 teams
• Moore United FC - 17 teams
• Bruche Athletic - 17 teams
• Orford Juniors - 15 teams
• Birchwood Juniors - 14 teams
• Winwick Athletic - 11 teams
• Daten FC - 11 teams
• Warrington Wolves Foundation Disability - 11 teams

Leagues

Leagues offer competitive opportunity for many different players, including women and girls, disability, youth and adults. The largest local leagues are:

• Warrington Junior Football League - home and away matches
• Warrington Junior Saturday Football League - home and away matches
• Warrington & District Football League - home and away matches
• Warrington Girls Football League -home and away matches
• Warrington Sunday Football League - home and away matches

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.

Comets is a recreational, pan-disability football programme for disabled boys and girls aged between 5 and 11. Pan-disability is the largest format of disability football, which sees players with a broad range of impairments and health conditions play together. Comets offers a flexible and inclusive way of playing, one that’s all about playfulness, friendships and having fun. For talented players the FA runs regional centres and England national squads. Projects identified in the LFFP help CFAs support disability football delivery on a local level, which will be identified through local community engagement.

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 and is a key objective of any facility investment. The FA’s 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, 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. 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.

For talented players, the Girls' Emerging Talent Centres (ETCs) across the nation are provided to increase and diversify the talent pool and give more girls than ever the chance to take their first steps on the pathway towards playing professional football. Higher level talent pathway opportunities are also provided regionally and nationally by the FA, culminating in the England Women’s national squads. Women’s Super League and Women's Championship teams provide player pathway opportunities for gifted and talented female players and a spectator interest for fans.

Casual football

Casual 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 match play. Casual football demand will be explored as part of the community engagement when a facility project is developed to ensure that the needs are captured. 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. Each project must be mindful to offer opportunities beyond the affiliated game, particularly for women and girls.

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 Football Turf Pitches (FTPs)
• Improved grass pitches
• Off pitch and ancillary facilities
• PlayZones

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 eight 11v11 3G FTPs in Warrington:

• Birchwood Academy Trust
• Broomfields Leisure Centre
• Cardinal Newman High School
• Great Sankey Neighbourhood Hub
• Lymm High School
• Lymm Rugby Club - senior rugby union pitch build
• Orford Jubilee Neighbourhood Hub
• The Recreation Centre (Padgate Academy)
• Victoria Park - senior rugby league pitch build

The 2019 Warrington LFFP identified 11v11 3G FTP projects at Broomfields Leisure Centre and Lymm High School which were both subsequently FF funded and delivered, as well as at Victoria Park which was built without FF funding support. A new FF funded 3G FTP has also been developed at Cardinal Newman High School. The 2019 Warrington LFFP also identified Grappenhall Village Sports Club as a posibble location for a 3G FTP in the South of the Borough, however on exploration was found to be unfeasible due to site constraints.

There are a further 17 small size 3G FTPs, all of which are available for community use. None are 60x40m sized or larger, most are 5v5 3G FTPs including the ten pitches at small-sided 3G FTP centre Beaumont Collegiate Academy.

Warrington has a Playing Pitch & Outdoor Sport (PPOSS) completed in 2022. The PPOSS indicates that there is a current shortfall of seven 11v11 3G FTPs for football. There remains a shortfall of three 11v11 3G FTPs in the west sub-area, two in the south sub-area, one in the central sub-area and one in the east sub-area. In addition to the shortfall of 11v11 3G FTPs, there are also two existing pitches that require replacement at The Recreation Centre (Padgate Academy) and Orford Jubilee Neighbourhood Hub (previously FF funded).

All eight 11v11 3G FTPs are available for community use, though the pitches at Victoria Park and Lymm Rugby Club are rugby build pitches (league and union respectively) and programmed for rugby activity. There is little to no football use of these pitches and consequently, in practice there are six 11v11 3G FTPs available to and servicing demand for football training.

Seven 11v11 3G FTPs are on the FA 3G Pitch Register (meaning they are quality checked and can be used for football match play) including the rugby union build pitch at Lymm Rugby Club, though there is no known regular use for football and the pitch is typically used for rugby union at shared peak times. Only Victoria Park is not on the FA 3G Pitch Register but the pitch is a focus for rugby league rather than football.

The geographic spread of existing 11v11 3G FTPs for football is uneven. Existing provision is spread relatively evenly across the Borough, however there are provision gaps in the north of the Authority, specifically north of the M62 (Culcheth, Croft, Winwick, Glazebury), where there are no existing 11v11 3G FTPs, despite high levels of population and club football demand. It is recommended that these are addressed.

Local consultation undertaken through the PPOSS reveals common issues with low availability due to the quantitative shortfall of pitches, with 22 out of 26 responding football clubs having stated that additional pitches are required to meet their training requirements. It is recommended that this is addressed.

Warrington is a priority area for facility development for the RFL, which has nine affiliated community rugby league clubs in the Borough as well as professional club Warrington Wolves. Victoria Park is a key 3G pitch site for rugby league in Warrington, however the RFL reports a need for increased compliant supply of existing/future 3G pitches to support rugby league needs, for which the PPOSS identifies capacity shortfalls. A new FF funded 3G FTP was developed in 2023 at Cardinal Newman High School, which has compliant specification for contact rugby activity. There is also opportunity for compliant 3G provision in the Culcheth area, where there is an identified need for 3G for both football and rugby league.

Culcheth High School has sought planning consent to convert the existing sand based AGP onsite to a 3G surface. Though there is an identified need for additional 3G FTP provision in the East sub-area, including to service clubs in Culcheth, the PPOSS identifies that the pitch is presently required for hockey. Until England Hockey confirms that pitch quality and capacity issues for hockey in Warrington are resolved and that Culcheth High School can subsequently be released for conversion to 3G, the surface should remain compliant for hockey.

The following priority projects for potential investment are identified.

Several projects for new 3G FTPs require further exploration of site options to understand whether they could be deliverable. The Warrington PPOSS recommends that the feasibility of site options is explored through the means of a 'task and finish group'. FF anticipates that this aligns with FF processes of engagement with and input from NGBs and local partners to ensure all opportunities and impacts are considered and that new 3G FTPs are delivered in a strategic manner.

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 are postponed each year due to poor pitches. We are therefore on a mission to have 20,000 quality grass pitches across England so that everyone has a great place to play. Since the programme began there are over 7000 quality pitches and the next milestone is to have 12,000 quality pitches by 2028.

The key challenge is to create a sustainable approach to provide good quality football pitches for the long term. While the education sector and local authorities are still the principal asset owners of grass pitches, clubs and leagues own or maintain an increasing share and we will continue to prioritise investment into sites that are maintained by clubs or leagues. Investment into new or additional machinery and equipment is an important step towards sustainability for the voluntary sector. Ensuring eligible organisations can maintain their own sites, supplemented by contracted out major works (e.g. aeration) is a more cost-effective approach in the long term.

See the link for more information on grass pitches Football Foundation | Grass Pitch Improvement

From the time of the 2019 LFFP the introduction of PitchPower has allowed all Club owned and leased sites to apply for funding to improve grass pitch maintenance. Thornton Road Recreation Ground was amongst sites previously highlighted in the 2019 LFFP as pitch improvement projects and has since been awarded Football Foundation investment.

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:

• Daten FC (Culcheth Sports Club)
• Eagle Sports FC (Thornton Road Recreation Ground)
• Grappenhall Sports Juniors (Grappenhall Village Sports Club)
• Warrington Sports Club

Warrington Sports Club has also received GPMF funding for additional pitch maintenance equipment. Culcheth Athletic JFC has also, but has not yet accessed a revenue grant through the fund.

There are currently 12 grass pitch sites in the local area that have been identified as either currently maintained, in part or whole, by grassroots clubs, leagues or community groups. Of these, ten sites with 38 pitches have been assessed via PitchPower and are known to have 14 good (or better) quality pitches, 17 basic quality pitches and seven poor quality pitches. The pitches at Cardinal Newman High School were also assessed using PitchPower in 2021 and both were rated as basic quality.

The total number of pitches includes club owned or operated sites which are a priority for grass pitch investment. The following club owned or operated sites remain a priority for grass pitch investment and are eligible for the Football Foundation's Grass Pitch Maintenance Fund:

• Greenalls St Padgate Oswald (Carlsberg Tetley Sports and Social Club - PitchPower assessment complete)
• Moore United FC (Grange Sports & Social Club - PitchPower assessment complete)
• Rylands FC (Rylands Recreation Club)
• The Oaks Playing Field (Culcheth Athletic JFC - PitchPower assessment complete)

The priority now is to concentrate on those 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. There are 24 local authority managed sites which have been assessed via PitchPower and are known to have 12 good (or higher) quality pitches, 26 basic quality pitches and 28 poor quality pitches.

Of the 12 key club/league/community maintained pitch sites referenced above it was determined that four of these should be prioritised for improvements, along with four education sites. A further seven local authority and two Parish Council managed sites should be prioritised for improvements, some of which may hold opportunity for future transfer to club or league led management and maintenance models. In total this will result in quality improvements to 53 pitches.

The following projects for potential investment have been identified. Pitch quality rating was evidenced by PitchPower (or the PPOSS and ratified by local partners where PitchPower data isn't available). Prioritisation was based on a rationale of selecting sites with a strategic focus to improve local authority and club maintained pitches, key strategic multi-pitch sites and those that are most well utilised.

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

Each project will take a progressive approach to pavilions and clubhouses (beyond the provision of changing rooms) and be open to new opportunities to engage the whole community. That means, creating environments that are welcoming to players, spectators, volunteers, officials and all sections of the community. 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 /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 25 key grass pitch sites in Warrington deemed to be of strategic importance, 18 sites have suitable changing rooms, two sites require improvement and four require replacement of existing facilities which are poor quality and/or unsafe. One site (Appleton Thorn Playing Field) currently has no facilities and requires new changing rooms and car parking provision.

Of the 17 key sites in Warrington where pitch improvements have been prioritised, seven sites also require new/replacement (five sites) or refurbished (two sites) changing facilities.

Projects are included in this section where it is expected that improved or expanded facilities will contribute to strong sport and community outcomes, such as:

• Large multipitch sites with lots of football usage and poor off pitch facilities
• Priority for women and girls
• Clubs and communities
• New 3G FTPs

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 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.

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 PlayZones 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. 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

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

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. 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. 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.

More about the programme can be found on The Football Foundation website here: Football Foundation PlayZones Programme | Football Foundation

A range of local agencies were invited to participate in the LFFP consultation. Those that contributed are listed below:

• Head of Inclusive Growth & Partnerships - Warrington Borough Council
• Partnerships & Commissioning Officer - Warrington Borough Council
• Environment Services Manager - Warrington Borough Council
• Facilities & Investment Manager - Cheshire FA
• Football Development Manager - Liverpool FA
• Facilities & Investment Manager - Liverpool FA
• Head of Facilities & Investment - Lancashire FA
• Planning Manager - Sport England
• National Contracts & Partnerships Manager - Active Cheshire
• Operations Director - LiveWire
• Health & Wellbeing Manager - Warrington Wolves Foundation
• Disability Manager - Warrington Wolves Foundation
• Facilities Development Manager (North) - Rugby Football Union
• Facilities Planning Manager (Recreational Game) - England & Wales Cricket Board
• Clubs & Participation Manager - Cheshire Cricket Board
• Facilities Relationship Manager - England Hockey
• National Clubs Manager - Rugby Football League
• Facilities Manager - Rugby Football League