Local Football Facility Plan Wirral

Demographics for the area can be seen below:

Local authority

Refreshed Wirral Plan (2021-26)

The Council completely updated the Wirral Plan in light of the impact the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic had on the Borough, the update approved by Council in 2021. The vision of the updated plan is 'to create equity for people and place and opportunities for all to secure the best possible future for residents, communities and businesses'. The vision has been developed to build on five thematic priorities that focus on improving outcomes for whole population groups:

• Sustainable Environment - working towards a clean-energy, sustainable borough that leads the way in its response to the climate emergency and is environmentally friendly
• Brighter Futures - working together for brighter futures for our children, young people and their families by breaking the cycle of poor outcomes for all regardless of their background
• Inclusive Economy - working for a prosperous, inclusive economy - helping businesses to thrive and creating jobs and opportunities for all
• Safe and Vibrant Communities - working for safe and vibrant communities where our residents feel safe, and are proud to live and raise their families
• Active and Healthy Lives - working to provide happy, active and healthy lives for all, with the right care, at the right time to enable residents to live longer and healthier lives

Most relevant to community sport, to achieve active and healthy lives for all the plan aims to:

• Work collaboratively with partner agencies to improve mental wellbeing
• Encourage active living
• Support people to live independently
• Deliver Public Health services to improve wider detriments of health
• Tackle health inequalities

The plan aims to deliver:

• Wirral’s operational Covid-19 Outbreak Management plan
• Targeted Health Inequalities strategy
• A new, fit for purpose leisure offer
• Actions and priorities to meet the objectives of the Prevention Programme

The Wirral Health & Wellbeing Strategy (2022-27)

The Wirral Health & Wellbeing Strategy (2022-27) has been developed by Wirral Health and Wellbeing Board, which is a collective of local  organisations including the Council, NHS, Healthwatch, the Community, Voluntary and Faith Sector, Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority, Merseyside Police, the Department for Work and Pensions and Wirral Metropolitan College. The strategy focuses on mutual priorities, resources and assets that will make the biggest difference to improving health in Wirral. It sets out the shared ambition, solutions and approaches, using the best of the Borough’s combined strengths and capabilities. It is built upon what Wirral residents have said about being healthy and what evidence suggests works to help. The Strategy complements the work of individual organisations and contributes to the delivery of the Wirral Plan.

The strategy has five priorities, these are:

1. Create opportunities to get the best health outcomes from the economy and regeneration programmes
2. Strengthen health and care action to address differences in health outcomes
3. Ensure the best start in life for all children and young people
4. Create safe and healthy places for people to live that protect health and promote a good standard of living
5. Create a culture of health and wellbeing, listening to residents and working together

Wirral Playing Pitch Strategy (2021)

The local authority has a Playing Pitch Strategy in place, developed in 2021. The key findings and stated overarching priorities are a critical and significant current shortfall for both 11v11 3G FTPs and grass football pitch capacity for football. Pitch quality is a key issue for grass pitches, with 39% of the pitches used by community teams rated as poor quality. The Strategy also evidenced similarly significant capacity shortfalls for both rugby union and cricket pitches.

County Football Association

Wirral is covered by Cheshire 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 Delivery Manager and Regional Technical Project Manager at the Football Foundation work collaboratively with the County FA to provide pre-application support and lead on the delivery of priority projects for potential investment. The Regional Facility Planning Manager (FPM) 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)

These offer a variety of programmes and services to support local communities (sporting and non-sporting). Tranmere Rovers in the Community (TRIC) runs a variety of health, education, engagement, football and sporting activities within the local area, including from its home site Solar Campus .

Local leisure operator

Wirral Council has 15 key leisure facilities which are managed in-house (by its Active Wirral brand), including swimming pools, golf courses and leisure centres with gym facilities, sports halls and 3G FTPs. These include key sites for football Wirral Tennis & Sports Centre (11v11 size 3G FTP), Leasowe Leisure Centre (11v11 size 3G FTP), Oval Leisure Centre (11v11 size sand based artificial grass pitch and grass football pitches) and Guinea Gap Leisure Centre (2x 5v5 3G FTPs).

Local consultation

Local consultation took place with a broad and diverse set of community groups in the original LFFP (2018) and to inform the recent PPOSS (2021). See Appendix B for full list of consultees who helped inform the LFFP update.

Clubs

There are over 91,000 community football teams in England, spread over an expansive network of clubs and leagues. Wirral has a total of 839 teams.

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 FA-Accredited status, 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. In Wirral, 27 clubs have more than 10+ registered teams. They are (based upon 2023/24 affiliation data) are:

• West Kirby United FC - 77 teams
• Glenavon JFC - 53 teams
• Heswall Juniors - 51 teams
• AC Hoylake - 41 teams
• Bromborough & Eastham - 38 teams
• Higher Bebington JFC - 36 teams
• Rakers - 32 teams
• Cheshire Vikings - 30 teams
• Greenleas Juniors - 23 teams
• Poulton Vics (formerly River Juniors FC Wirral) - 23 teams
• Ashville Youth - 20 teams
• Shaftesbury Youth Club - 20 teams
• Shore Villa - 20 teams
• Oldershaw Community AFC - 18 teams
• Wallasey Village - 18 teams
• Manor JFC - 17 teams
• Poulton Athletic - 16 teams
• Birkenhead JFC – 14 teams
• New Ferry Rangers - 14 teams
• Upton - 13 teams
• Eastham Rangers - 12 teams
• Victoria Colts - 12 teams
• Cammell Laird 1907 – 11 teams
• Moreton Football Club – 11 teams
• Oxton Ladies - 11 teams
• Allport Hawks – 10 teams
• JFC Greasby - 10 teams

Leagues

Seven leagues operate in Wirral. They offer competitive opportunity for many different players, including women and girls, youth and adults. While there are no specific league opportunities for disability within Wirral, there is however suitable provision provided in Cheshire West & Chester where teams tend to play in the Cheshire Ability Counts League played in Chester.

Wirral's largest local leagues (2023/24) include:

• Eastham & District Junior League - 609 teams (home/away)
• Wallasey Junior League - 133 teams (home/away and central venue)
• Birkenhead Sunday League - 46 teams (home/away)
• Wallasey & District Sunday League - 22 teams (home/away)
• Chester & Wirral Football League - 57 teams (home/away and central venue)
• West Cheshire League - 55 teams (home/away)
• Cheshire Girls League (Wirral division) - 90 teams (central venue)

The County FA reports that there is less cross boundary migration than there previously was, as teams which were travelling to use central venue league facilities in Liverpool (mainly to access the Liverpool Girls League) have now been able to gain increased access to 3G FTPs locally to play back within Wirral within the Cheshire Girls 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 Wirral there are six football teams specifically for people with a disability. It is a priority of the County FA to grow this provision. For talented players the FA runs regional centres and England national squads.

Women and girls

The FA 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 by 2024 and this will be a key objective of any facility investment. The FA’s four-year 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 to be achieved by 2024, 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. Wirral has eight FA Wildcats girls football centres and the priority is to grow this activity. 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.

At 114 (of which 47 are dedicated girls mini soccer teams), Wirral’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 Cheshire Girls League which has a dedicated division for teams based in the Wirral area, with matches played at central venues. The League is expected to grow its provision in future years. The local adult female league is the Cheshire Women's and Youth Football League and matches are played on a home and away basis. It too is expected to grow its provision in future years. The most local Emerging Talent Centre (ETC) for girls aged 8-16 years is in Chester, run by Chester FC Community Trust.

For talented players, the most local FA Regional Talent Clubs (RTCs) are at Liverpool and Everton (both based in City of Liverpool), plus others across the North West. Higher level talent pathway opportunities are also provided regionally and nationally by the FA, culminating in the England Women’s national squads. The most local Women’s Super League teams are Liverpool FC Women and Everton FC Women 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- at Pensby High School, Wirral Tennis & Sports Centre and Leasowe Leisure Centre
• Soccer Gods - at Bebington High School
• Leisure Leagues - at Tranmere Rovers (Solar Campus) and Pensby High School
• Soccer Sixes - at Tranmere Rovers (Solar Campus)

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 four FA Just Play Centres currently in Wirral. Walking football sessions are delivered by a range of community organisation such as Tranmere Rovers in the Community, grassroots clubs and independent groups. Walking football and Just Play are areas that the County FA has prioritised further growth. Other local recreational football programmes include pro-club community scheme activity and casual bookings which are delivered by a range of organisations.

The key strengths of local football in Wirral include Flexi 11s leagues, women and girls and youth football provision and it is recommend that these are sustained and encouraged to grow further. However, gaps in provision do exist, in U7 and U8 mini soccer ages for girls and for youth male aged 14+.

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

1. Female growth in foundation age from U7
2. Continued expansion of the Flexi 11’s offer
3. Increased accessibility to disability football in grassroots clubs
4. Growth of youth football
5. Recreational alternatives - e.g. walking football

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. 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
• Off pitch and ancillary facilities (e.g. toilets, changing rooms, catering)
• 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 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 nine 11v11 size 3G FTPs in Wirral:

• Co-Op Academy Bebington
• Leasowe Leisure Centre (Wallasey)
• Pensby High School
• Shaftesbury Youth Club
• Tranmere Rovers (Solar Campus)
• Weatherhead High School
• Bidston Sports & Activity Centre - 2x pitches
• Woodchurch High School Sports Complex
• Woodchurch Leisure Centre - oversized 11v11 pitch

The 2018 Wirral LFFP identified 11v11 3G FTP projects at Leasowe Leisure Centre, Tranmere Rovers (Solar Campus) and Weatherhead High School, all three of which were subsequently self-funded and delivered. New 11v11 3G FTPs were also developed at Shaftesbury Youth Club and Bidston Sports & Activity Centre (a second 11v11 3G FTP) with the support of FF funding. The pitch at Pensby High School was also built since the 2018 LFFP, self-funded in 2019.

There are a further eight small size 3G FTPs, all of which are available for community use, though pitches at Birkenhead Youth Club and The Hive (Wirral Youth Zone) are without floodlighting. None are 60x40m sized or larger, most are 5v5 3G FTPs.

Wirral has a Playing Pitch & Outdoor Sport Strategy (PPOSS) undertaken in 2021. The PPOSS indicated that there is a significant shortfall of 11v11 3G FTPs, with 19 pitches required against a supply of five 11v11 pitches at the time of the PPOSS. When accounting for the five aforementioned 3G FTPs built since the PPOSS was produced, the shortfall would be reduced to need a further nine new 3G FTPs. However, football demand has since grown from a total of 698 teams recorded by the PPOSS (2020/21 season) to a current total of 839 teams (2023/24 season). The number of 3G FTPs required for football has subsequently increased by three more pitches due to growth in participation, meaning Wirral requires a total of 22 11v11 3G FTPs to meet football demand against a current supply of 10 pitches. Therefore, there is demand for an additional 12 11v11 3G FTPs for football.

The shortfall of 3G FTPs in Wirral is significant and there are challenges to identification of land assets and suitable sites at which to be able to develop new facilities. Consequently and with the majority of the Borough accessible within a 20 minute drive time catchment, the Council and partners are looking to explore opportunities to develop a series of multi-pitch football hubs across Wirral able to accommodate multiple 11v11 3G FTPs as destination sites to meet this demand. Wirral Council has indicated an aspiration to explore potential future funding opportunities to do so through the FF Hubs Capital Investment Programme.

In addition to the shortfall of 11v11 size 3G FTPs there are also two existing pitches that were not previously FF funded and will reach or exceed their recommended surface lifespan and therefore require replacement within the next three years, at Woodchurch High School (2012) and Bidston Sports & Activity Centre (2016).

All nine of the 11v11 3G FTPs are available for community use, however just four (Co-Op Academy Bebington, Pensby High School, Shaftesbury Youth Club and Weatherhead High School) are on the FA 3G Pitch Register meaning they are quality checked and can be used for football match play. It is strongly recommended that the four remaining pitches are assessed and placed on the FA 3G Pitch Register to enable more match play on 3G.

The geographic spread of existing facilities is uneven; the majority are located in the north (Wallasey, Leasowe and Bidston) of the Borough. However, there are facilities gaps and significant shortfalls in all areas of the Borough except for the Bidston and St James; Birkenhead and Tranmere; Rock Ferry area despite high levels of population and football demand and it is recommended that these are addressed.

Local consultation undertaken through the PPOSS identifies common issues with low availability due to the quantitative shortfall of pitches and it is recommended that these are addressed.

Eleven priority projects for potential investment are identified, including for three football hubs which as a starting point would each have at least two 11v11 3G FTPs (potentially more subject to further site identification and investigation). Each was selected based upon a rationale of good access, high population, geographic spread and existing facility quality.

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 were postponed due to poor pitches during the last full football season. We are therefore on a mission to improve 20,000 grass pitches across England.

The Grass Pitch Maintenance Fund is a £21m fund that provides eligible organisations with a tapered six-year grant to help them sustain pitches already at a 'good' level and enhance pitches that are either considered 'poor' or 'basic'. In order to be eligible, organisations such as clubs and leagues must use the PitchPower app to assess their pitches. This provides a detailed assessment report with recommendations on improving the quality of grass pitches. The PitchPower app is available to all pitch owners as a way to assess grass pitch quality and gain access to grass pitch improvement recommendations. See PitchPower.

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.

Through the use of PitchPower we are able to identify the demand for investment into new or additional machinery and equipment and see this as an important step towards sustainability for the voluntary sector. Ensuring clubs and leagues can maintain their own sites, supplemented by contracted out major works (e.g. aeration) is potentially a more cost effective approach in the long term.

While the education sector (23.8%) and local authorities (51.8%) are still the principal asset owners of grass pitches and have the heaviest reliance for affiliated matches, clubs / leagues own or maintain an increasing share and we will continue to prioritise investment into sites that are maintained by clubs or leagues.

From the time of the 2018 LFFP the introduction of PitchPower has allowed all eligible organisations which own and lease sites to apply for funding to improve grass pitch maintenance.

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:

• AC Hoylake (Acres Road Playing Fields)
• Glenavon JFC (The Glen)
• Glenavon JFC (Ridgeway High School)
• Heswall FC (TeamDDB Park)
• West Kirby FC (Marine Park)
• West Kirby United FC (Elm Grove Football Pitch)

There are currently 13 grass pitch sites in the local area that have been identified as either currently maintained, in part or whole, by grassroots clubs or leagues. Of these, all 13 sites have been assessed via PitchPower and have a total of eight good or better (high or advanced) quality pitches, 21 basic quality pitches and four poor 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:

• Newton FC (Millcroft Ground)
• MSC Eastham FC (Riverside Football Ground)
• Bebington Juniors (Kings Road Playing Field)

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. All local authority managed pitches have been assessed via PitchPower across 33 sites. These are known to have 15 good or better (high or advanced ) quality pitches, 40 basic quality pitches and 64 poor quality pitches. Education establishments South Wirral High School, Ridgeway High School and Co-Op Academy Bebington also have PitchPower assessments.

Of the 13 key club/league/community pitch sites referenced above it was determined that three of these should be prioritised for improvements, along with 11 local authority managed sites, 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 63 full size pitch equivalents.

Fourteen priority projects for potential investment have been identified. Pitch quality rating was evidenced by PitchPower (local authority sites) or the PPS and ratified by local partners where PitchPower data isn't available. Prioritisation was based on a rationale of selecting sites that had the most pitches, were most well utilised and with a strategic focus to improve local authority and club pitches.

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 24 key grass pitch sites in Wirral of strategic importance, 19 sites have suitable changing rooms. Four sites require improvement of existing provision, at Lingham Park, Arrowe Park, Lord Leverhulme Playing Fields and Plymyard Playing Fields. The pavilion at Withensfield Playing Field (The Delph) requires replacement.

Projects for three new changing pavilions would likely be required to service 3G FTPs and grass pitches at three proposed multi-pitch football hubs, subject to site selection and existing infrastructure at these sites. It is possible that three of the sites above (Arrowe Park, Lord Leverhulme Playing Fields and Plymyard Playing Fields) could be considered as possible future 3G FTP locations and that replacement rather than refurbishment of pavilions at these sites is deemed required.

New FF funded changing rooms were developed in 2022 at Shaftesbury Youth Club to service both the FF funded 3G FTP but also the grass pitches at the adjacent Borough Road Playing Fields. New FF funded changing rooms were also built at Bidston Sports & Activity Centre and a new FF funded pavilion at Woodchurch Leisure Centre, in each case to service the two 3G FTPs and grass pitches at each site.

Of the 18 key sites in Wirral where grass pitch improvements have been prioritised, five also require refurbished or replacement changing facilities.

Eight 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, the audiences and the various facility types they relate to.

Research suggests that small-sided players in teams and leagues, and in organised 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.

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.

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

Our research also shows us that 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. This section of the LFFP will concentrate on suitable places for PlayZones.

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. Where some engagement has already been carried out projects will appear in the project list.

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.

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

Once these two things are identified local community engagement is required to identify potential sites for investment. In Wirral the starting point for priority places, identified through previous Local Authority work around deprivation and inactivity, is:

• East area - Birkenhead, Bidston, Seacombe, Rock Ferry
• South area - Mill Park (Eastham), Acre Lane (Bromborough), Prenton Dell,
• West area - Moreton, Leasowe, Greenbank Road (West Kirby), Woodchurch, Overchurch

The key priority groups in Wirral are:

• Lower socio-economic groups
• Women and girls
• Disabled people and people with long-term health conditions
• Ethnically diverse communities

This priority group of places and people will be ratified throughout the process and the next step is to now begin community engagement to help identify where the specific sites are that will help to tackle inequalities and provide spaces for activity.

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

• Head of Sport & Recreation - Wirral Council
• Parks Allotments Countryside (Assistant Senior Manager) - Wirral Council
• Parks Allotments Countryside (Team Leader Parks) - Wirral Council
• Parks Allotments Countryside (General Parks Manager Birkenhead) - Wirral Council
• Neighbourhood Safety & Trans (Senior Manager Neighbourhood Engagement) - Wirral Council
• Estates Management (Asset Surveyor) - Wirral Council
• Leisure, Libraries & Engage (Modernisation Officer Leisure) - Wirral Council
• Leisure, Libraries and Engagement (Golf Manager, Neighbourhoods) - Wirral Council
• Senior Planning Officer - Wirral Council
• Planning Officer - Wirral Council
• Facilities & Investment Manager - Cheshire FA
• Senior Community Manager- Tranmere Rovers in the Community
• Planning Manager - Sport England
• Director - Merseyside Sports Partnership
• 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