Local Football Facility Plan West Oxfordshire

West Oxfordshire is in the South Region.

The current population of the Authority (ONS 2018 Mid-Year Estimate) is 109,800. This is expected to rise to 114,740 by 2039.

West Oxfordshire is ranked 57 out of 67 LAs in the region, and 302 out of 317 LAs nationally on the Indices of Multiple Deprivation (ONS).

Its ethnic composition is primarily white (97%). This is higher than the national average (85.4%).

The proportion of West Oxfordshire’s population represented by the BAME community is 3%. This is substantially below the national average (14.6%)

Local authority

The West Oxfordshire Local Plan was formally adopted on 27 September 2018 and sets out the overall planning framework for the district from 2011 to 2031. The stated vision is 'to meet the needs of West Oxfordshire’s communities, and play a role in helping to meet wider needs, without significant change to the intrinsic character of the District. We want this area to continue to be one of the best places in which to live, work, play and visit'.

The local authority does not have a playing pitch strategy in place but intends to commission one in 2020.

County football association

West Oxfordshire is covered by the Oxfordshire 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). The Oxford Utd Community Trust runs a variety of health, education, engagement, football and sporting activities in the local area.

Local leisure operator

GLL is the key leisure operator in West Oxfordshire. It currently runs leisure centre sites in Witney, Carterton, Chipping Norton and Eynesham. Both the Witney and Carterton sites include full sized 3G FTPs.

Local consultation

This has taken place with a broad and diverse set of community groups in West Oxfordshire. 12 individuals (representing 11 local organisations) were spoken to. The agencies consulted include:

• Witney Town Council
• Carterton Town Council
• Chipping Norton Town Council
• A range of local affiliated clubs

(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 Oxfordshire has a total of 244 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 ten years there has been a significant national increase in the number of large multi-team football clubs. In West Oxfordshire, eight clubs have more than eight registered teams. These (based upon 2019-20 affiliation data) are:

• Witney Vikings - 24 teams
• Tower Hill - 22 teams
• Carterton Town FC - 15 teams
• Carterton FC - 14 teams
• Stonesfield Strikers - 14 teams
• Charlbury Town/Youth FC - 12 teams
• Chadlington - 11 teams
• Ducklington - 11 teams
• Chipping Norton Swifts – 8 teams

Leagues

14 leagues cater for clubs and teams in West Oxfordshire. They offer competitive opportunities for many different players, including women and girls, disability, youth and adults. While there is no specific league opportunity for disability within the district, suitable provision is made in neighbouring Oxford. The largest of the local leagues (2019-20) are:

• Witney & District Youth Football League – 101 West Oxfordshire teams, 231 in total – home and away and central venue events at multiple sites
• Witney & District FA – 44 West Oxfordshire teams, 49 in total– home and away
• Oxfordshire Youth League – 28 West Oxfordshire teams, 572 in total – home and away and central venue events at multiple sites
• Oxfordshire Girls League – 18 West Oxfordshire teams, 112 in total – home and away and central venue events at multiple sites

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 Oxfordshire there are two football teams plus one session run 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. West Oxfordshire has three FA Wildcats girls football centres and the priority is to grow this activity.

At 23, West Oxfordshire’s number of female teams is comparable to 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 Oxford Mail Girls League in which matches are played on a home and away and central venue basis. It is expected to grow its provision in future years. The local adult female league is the Thames Valley Counties Womens League in which matches are played on a home and away basis. It too is expected to grow its provision in future years.

For talented players, the most local FA Regional Talent Club (RTC) is Oxford United Women. 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 Reading Women 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.

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 – Witney ATP
• Powerplay – Carterton Community College

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. A youth futsal league was established in March 2020 to provide competitive playing opportunities for U7-U15 at a number of sites across the county.

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 five FA Just Play centres in West Oxfordshire. Walking football sessions are delivered by a range of community organisations such as Better Leisure. 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 which are delivered by a range of organisations including Oxford United.

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).

The key strengths of local football in West Oxfordshire include youth male and female, adult male and female club provision and recreational adult and walking football. It is recommended that these are all sustained and encouraged to grow further. However, provision gaps include PAN disability and female recreational football. It is, therefore, recommended that the future football development priorities for West Oxfordshire are to:

1. Grow disability team and recreational football provision
2. Further develop youth female team provision
3. Grow female recreational opportunity via the FA Just Play programme
4. Further develop adult and youth male provision

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

This section reviews existing football facility assets in West Oxfordshire. 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 priorities are 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 two full-sized (11 v 11) 3G FTPs in West Oxfordshire located at:

• Henry Box School - operated by GLL via dual use agreement .
• Carterton Community College - operated by GLL via dual use agreement .

There is no current PPS and, therefore, demand for full sized 3G FTPs has been calculated using the FA training ratio model 1:38.

On the basis that there are 244 teams in West Oxfordshire, there is a requirement for six full sized 3G FTPs. There are currently two and there is, thus, a shortfall of four. Both of the existing pitches are on the FA Register for 3G FTPs (meaning they are quality checked and can be used for football match play) and are available for community use.

West Oxfordshire is a largely rural district with a distributed population. The existing 3G FTPs serve two of the main settlements; Witney and Carterton. Consultation nevertheless found that the pitch at Witney is at capacity with significant unmet training and matchplay demand in the locality. Elsewhere there is potential to address gaps in provision in the north of the district around Chipping Norton, and to the East around Woodstock where there is strong affiliated team demand. These locations would overlay with potential housing growth of c2,000 units in Chipping Norton and the proposed Cotswolds Garden Village in the East which is in the vicinity of Woodstock.

Three priority projects for potential investment are identified. These were selected on the basis of catering for the additional demand in Witney and servicing the presently unmet demand in and around the Authority's other two main settlements; Chipping Norton and Woodstock. Future need for an additional 3G, particularly in the North of the authority should however be fully tested via the upcoming PPS study and findings reflected in future updates of the LFFP.

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 13 grass pitch sites in West Oxfordshire with three or more full-size pitch equivalents (or with fewer than three pitches but deemed to be of strategic importance). These contain 49 grass pitches.

Local consultation indicates consistent issues with poor grass pitch quality and it is recommended that these are addressed.

Of the 13 key pitch sites referenced above it was determined that, at this point in time, four should be prioritised. This will result in quality improvements to 13 pitches:

It is important to note that once the Authority's playing pitch strategy has been completed, pitch quality assessments should be reflected in future iterations of the LFFP in order to identify additional improvement needs.

Four priority projects for potential investment are identified. Pitch quality rating and site prioritisation was evidenced and informed by local consultation.

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 13 key grass pitch sites in West Oxfordshire with three or more full-size pitch equivalents (or with fewer than three but deemed to be of strategic importance) nine have suitable changing rooms and four require improvement/replacement

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 reveals no indoor facilities that require improvement to develop small-sided football.

Local consultation reveals that whilst no site specific opportunities for MUGAs are identified it was agreed that a broad area based approach to provision should be taken. This will require further feasibility work being undertaken to identify local demand for small sided facilities in the following settlements which are identified in the WODC Local Plan as being likely to experience significant housing growth over the period to 2031. These are:

• Chipping Norton
• Carterton
• Witney
• Charlbury

Consultation also identified that the development of Oxfordshire Cotswolds Garden Village, North of Eynsham, is likely to generate additional demand for small sided / recreational facilities.

Local consultation reveals that no parks were identified as requiring improvements to develop small-sided 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:

• Representative - Ducklington FC
• Representative - Chipping Norton Swifts
• Representative - Charlbury Town Youth FC
• Representative - Witney Vikings Youth FC
• Representative - North Leigh Football Club
• Representative - Stonesfield Strikers FC
• Representative - Woodstock Town FC
• Grounds Maintenance Officer - Witney Town Council
• Clerk - Woodstock Parish Council
• Clerk - Chipping Norton Parish Council
• Clerk - Carterton Town Council
• Leisure Development Officer - West Oxfordshire District Council
• Senior Policy Officer - West Oxfordshire District Council