Local Football Facility Plan West Lancashire

West Lancashire is in the North West Region.

The current population of the Authority (ONS 2018 Mid-Year Estimate) is 113,949. This is expected to rise to 116,752 by 2039.

West Lancashire is ranked 27th out of 39 LAs in the region, and 167 out of 326 LAs nationally on the Indices of Multiple Deprivation (ONS).

West Lancashire's ethnic composition is primarily white (98.12%). This is higher than the national average (85.4%).

The proportion of West Lancashire’s population represented by the BAME community is 1.88%. This is below the national average (14.6%)

Local authority

The West Lancashire Borough Council Health and Wellbeing Strategy (2018 - 2021) provides a solid framework, or “delivery plan” with a number of high level strategic objectives and priority actions. Its overarching vision is: "To have in place the best conditions possible for people in West Lancashire to live healthy and fulfilling lives".

The West Lancashire Playing Pitch Strategy was produced in 2015 and updated in 2018. The key findings and stated overarching priorities are to sustain and improve the quality of key strategic football sites across the Authority and to increase the number of 3G FTPs available for community football.

County football association

West Lancashire is covered by both Liverpool and Lancashire County FAs. They provide governance for, and development support to, all aspects of local football including coaches, referees, volunteers, clubs and leagues; supporting football for all. They have designated facilities investment lead officers who work to ensure that the right facilities are located in the right locations.

Football Foundation

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

Sport England

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

Professional community club organisations (CCOs)

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

Local leisure operator

West Lancashire Community Leisure Trust is the key leisure operator in the Authority running several sites including Burscough Racquet & Fitness Centre which is a key venue for affiliated football in the area.

Local consultation

This has taken place with a broad and diverse set of community groups in West Lancashire. 14 individuals (representing 12 local organisations) were spoken to. The agencies consulted include:

• Lancashire County FA
• Liverpool County FA
• Football Foundation
• West Lancashire Borough Council

(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. West Lancashire has a total of 211 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 West Lancashire, eight clubs have more than 10 registered teams. These (based upon 2018-19 affiliation data) are:

• Ormskirk FC – 19 teams
• Burscough Dynamo – 19 teams
• Skemersdale Utd Youth – 17 teams
• Tarleton Corinthians – 15 teams
• Town Green FC – 14 teams
• Ormskirk West End FC - 12 teams
• Hesketh Bank AFC – 10 teams
• Dynamo Rangers FC – 10 teams

Leagues

Three main leagues cater for clubs and teams in West Lancashire. They offer competitive opportunities for many different players, including mini, youth male and female and adult players. While there is no specific league opportunity for disability football within West Lancashire, suitable provision is made in neighbouring Preston. The main local leagues (2018-19) are:

• West Lancashire Girls Football League – home and away
• West Lancashire League – home and away
• Skelmersdale Junior Football League - central venue

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

• Mid Lancashire Colts Junior Football League – 218 teams - home and away at U9s and U10s as well as central venue for U7s and U8s age groups
• Central Lancashire Junior Football League – 220 teams – home and away fixtures at multiple sites for ages U11 up to U16.
• Lancashire Sunday Football League – 71 teams – home and away fixtures for adult male football and youth football at U18s.

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 West Lancashire there are 3 football sessions specifically for people with a disability. It is a priority of both County FAs to sustain this provision. For talented players the FA runs regional centres and England national squads.

Women and girls

The FA has big ambitions for the female game and aims to double levels of participation by 2020. To achieve this requires a combined effort across four pathways: education, recreation, competition and talent.

Education environments have a huge impact on the first experience of football for young girls. This pathway can offer many opportunities for females of all ages to develop and grow a lifelong interest in football.

FA Wildcats girls football centres provide the first step on the recreational pathway, the programme provides girls aged 5-11 with regular opportunities to play football in a fun and engaging environment. West Lancashire has one FA Wildcats girls football centre and the priority is to grow this activity.

At 14, West Lancashire’s number of female teams is lower than local areas of a similar size. The priority for both the county FAs involved in the district is to support existing clubs catering for girl's football to grow and encourage more to develop playing opportunities for females. The local girls’ league is theWest Lancashire Girls League in which matches are played on a home and away basis. It is expected to sustain its provision in future years. The local adult female league is the Lancashire County Women’s League in which matches are also played on a home and away basis, it too is expected to sustain provision in future years.

For talented players, the most local FA regional talent clubs (RTCs) are Liverpool and Everton - both located in Liverpool. 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 teams are Liverpool and Everton 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 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:

• PowerPlay- ST Bede’s Catholic High- Ormskirk
• SoccerSixes- Burscough
• JMO SportsPark, Blaguegate Playing Fields, Skemersdale.

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 two futsal teams in West Lancashire that play in the Red Rose Futsal League. It is a priority for both County FAs to grow futsal for all potential 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 West Lancashire. Walking football and Just Play are County FA priorities for further growth and development. Other local recreational football programmes include pro-club community scheme activity and casual bookings; delivered by a range of organisations including JMO Sports Park and Wigan Athletic Community Trust, in some areas of the district.

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 West Lancashire is played throughout the authority. Blaguegate Playing Fields and Liverpool Road Playing fields are key site locations that are heavily used.

The key strengths of local football in West Lancashire include youth male provision and it is recommended that this is sustained and also encouraged to grow further. However, there are provision gaps and aspects of provision that are less prevalent than that in local authorities of a similar size, these include female and adult male football. It is, thus, recommended that future football development priorities for West Lancashire are:

1. Identify and develop 3G match and training facility options
2. Grass pitch improvement programme and development as a key target area
3. Enhance small sided recreational and accessible facilities.

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

Each priority project that progresses to a funding application via the Football Foundation will produce a detailed ‘site development plan’ specifying all football development activity, usage and key partner engagement.

This section reviews existing football facility assets in West Lancashire. It identifies current issues and presents opportunities for improvements, including a list of priority projects for potential investment. Local assets and opportunities have been reviewed in line with four investment priorities:

• 3G FTPs
• Improved grass pitches
• Changing room pavilions / clubhouses
• Small sided facilities

To ensure a consistent and high quality approach, each local area is reviewed applying a standard approach, supplemented by input from consultation with local partners and stakeholder organisations.

While 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.

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

• JMO Sports Park ( x 2)
• Sporting Edge (Edge Hill University)

In addition, there are currently 13 small-sided 3G FTPs located at:

• 3G All Weather Football Limited
• JMO Sports Park (x 9)
• Sporting Edge (Edge Hill University)
• St Bedes Catholic High School
• Burscough Fitness and Racquets Centre.

Burscough FC has submitted plans to develop a stadia 3G FTP as part of a new stadia development in Burscough. The 2018 PPS suggests that there is not a clear need for additional full size 3G FTP provision within the area catchment, but nevertheless this is likely to be developed with community use options available to local clubs. If plans do proceed to develop this, it will not impact on the two identified potential 3G FTP projects identified within the LFFP due to the existing geographical need.

Further to the above it is noted that there is a disused 3G FTP at the former Glenburn College site in Skelmersdale. This has not been accessed for several years due to the closure of the College and is not currently considered to be an asset for community football. If this site is to be developed on in future years, this pitch will likely be re provided within the local area. It should noted that this will not impact on the identified shortfall of two full size pitches.

The West Lancashire PPS (updated in 2018) indicates a shortfall of one full size 3G FTP. It is now the opinion of the LFFP Steering Group that due to growth in affiliated football in the area (and relative to the geographical spread of provision) that the level of shortfall should now increase to two full size 3G FTPs.

All 3G FTPs are available for community use and are on the FA Register (meaning they are quality checked and can be used for football match play). The geographic spread of existing facilities is largely even relative to demand for football; the majority are located in the central area of the Authority. There is a facility gap to the north of the authority which has a high level of affiliated football demand.

Local consultation reveals common issues with limited availability and it is the purpose of this plan to address this. Two projects to develop full-sized 3G FTPs are identified in order to satisfy demand. They will address geographical shortfalls and offer potential training and match play opportunity links to key clubs in the authority.

Three priority projects are identified selected based upon their capacity to fill a current geographic gap and service existing affiliated football demand:

Playing fields are one of the most important resources for sport in England. All football players should have the opportunity to play on good quality grass pitches. However, FA data shows that 63% of pitches in England are poor / low quality and one in six games is cancelled. As such, poor pitch quality is consistently cited as the number one issue for players.

The priority is, therefore, to sustainably improve grass pitch quality across all main pitch owners (local authorities, education establishments and clubs). However, the level of maintenance required to obtain good quality standards is regularly affected by restricted budgets and limited knowledge/ training. Compaction and grass coverage are two key causes of poor quality pitches. Both are commonly treated via a maintenance driven solution (and do not necessarily require costly drainage schemes).

Playing fields are also a valuable resources for informal play and open-access sites are encouraged but, for many, problems such as dog fouling and vandalism mean that they need to be protected with mitigation measures such as fencing.

The key challenge is to create a sustainable approach to provide good quality football pitches for the long term. Most local authorities (78%) intend to increase pitch hire fees in the future. However, the majority of players (63%) believe facilities are already expensive and some (16%) believe prices are prohibitive. A sustainable solution should, therefore, carefully balance pitch quality and affordability.

While the education sector (37%) and local authorities (32%) are still the principal asset owners of grass pitches, clubs / leagues own or maintain an increasing share (currently 25%). Assets and opportunities have been considered across each sector.

Although large (3+ pitch) strategic sites are important and make up much of the project list within the LFFPs, this does not mean that other club, league and community/voluntary sites are not important or eligible for funding. These sites are key to the Football Foundation's Grass Pitch Programme to deliver 20,000 good quality pitches.

For more information click here.

PitchPower

The PitchPower app is the gateway to any grass pitch improvement funding. It is the tool that will allow clubs and organisations to complete pitch inspections and access funds.

If you haven't signed up and completed a PitchPower pitch inspection, you will need to do this before you can apply for the Grass Pitch Maintenance Fund.

Learn more by clicking here.

There are currently nine grass pitch sites in West Lancashire with three or more full-size pitch equivalents (or with fewer than three pitches but deemed to be of strategic importance). These contain 41 grass pitches.

Local consultation confirms the extent of the issues faced in respect of poor quality playing surfaces in West Lancashire. Based on the 2018 PPS and local consultation five sites are identified for potential quality improvements.

Six priority projects for potential investment are identified. Pitch quality rating was evidenced by PPS and ratified by local partners. Prioritisation was based on a rationale of selecting sites that were, or offered the potential to be, best-utilised for affiliated football.

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

Four 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 and leagues and recreational sessions . Indoor sports halls are most popular, along with some community halls and indoor 3G centres. Environments need to be engaging, have clear line-marking and the correct size goalposts.

Informal players require facilities that are open and free to access as this enables play opportunities that are often spontaneous. In these circumstances multi-use games areas (MUGAs) can be effective in areas of high urban population and limited green space. Such facilities can be modern, bright, creative and engaging. While this plan will identify suitable locations for such facilities, the design and specifics of the facility type can be agreed at a later stage with Football Foundation staff when projects are ready to progress to pre-application stage.

Parks and open green spaces are also important to informal play and require goalposts and zones that are free from litter and dog fouling.

Local consultation indicates that, at present, no indoor facilities require improvement to develop small sided football. It is noted that there is not, at present, significant unmet demand in West Lancashire for futsal and more recreational formats of indoor football. Potential need for indoor projects will be reconsidered upon review of the LFFP.

Three potential opportunities for MUGAs are identified. In each case the rationale is based on the site being in an area with relatively high proportions of people from lower social economic groups and corresponding high local demand for informal football.

At this point no potential projects to improve existing parks and open spaces, other than the identified MUGA opportunities, have been identified.

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:

• Engagement Officer - Football Foundation
• Head of Facilities & Investment - Lancashire County FA
• Football Development Manager (Facilities & Investment) - Liverpool County FA
• Club Secretary - Appley Bridge FC
• Club Secretary - Tarleton Corinthians FC
• Club Secretary - Ormskirk FC
• Club Secretary - Skelmersdale Youth FC
• Club Secretary - Ormskirk West End FC
• Club Secretary - Digmoor FC
• Strategic Planning Officer - West Lancashire Borough Council
• Leisure Operations Manager - West Lancashire Borough Council
• Deputy Director of Leisure & Wellbeing - West Lancashire Borough Council
• Community Manager - Wigan Athletic Community Trust
• Sports Adviser - Street Games