Local Football Facility Plan Wycombe

Wycombe is in the South East region.

The current population of the authority (ONS 2017 Mid-Year Estimate) is 174,641. This is expected to rise to 185,165 by 2039.

Wycombe is ranked 46 out of 67 LAs in the region, and 293 out of 326 LAs nationally on the Indices of Multiple Deprivation (ONS).

Wycombe's ethnic composition is primarily white (81%). This is lower than the national average (85.4%).

The proportion of Wycombe’s population represented by the BAME community is 19%. This is above the national average (14.6%).

Local authority

As part of Local Government reorganisation, Wycombe District Council will cease to exist as a non-metropolitan district as of April 2020. It will unite with Aylesbury Vale, Chiltern and South Bucks district councils, as well as Buckinghamshire County Council, to establish one unitary authority known as Buckinghamshire Council. Consequently, the exact nature of services and officers responsible for the support and delivery of projects identified within the LFFP is yet to be established.

Wycombe has a Playing Pitch Strategy in place; this was adopted in 2015 but is no longer considered a robust evidence base. However, the aforementioned change in administration means that there will be a need to consider the strategic need of the new administrative area in the future planning of sports and football facilities, rather than within just the existing Wycombe boundaries.

County football association

Wycombe is covered by the Berks & Bucks 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 Wycombe Wanderers Sports & Education Trust (WWSET) runs a variety of health, education, engagement, football and sporting activities within the local area.

Local leisure operator

Places Leisure is the key leisure operator in Wycombe. It currently runs three key leisure centre sites (Wycombe Leisure Centre, Court Garden Leisure Complex, Risborough Springs Swim & Fitness Centre), though none have dedicated football provision.

Local consultation

This has taken place with a broad and diverse set of community groups in Wycombe. Twenty one individuals (representing 19 local organisations) were spoken to. The agencies consulted include:

• Wycombe Wanderers Sports & Education Trust (WWSET)
• Insignis Academy Trust (Princes Risborough School)
• Bucks New University

(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. Wycombe has a total of 262 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 Wycombe, ten clubs have more than 10 registered teams. The largest of these based upon 2018-19 affiliation data) are:

• Marlow Youth (including Marlow Royals, Marlow Town & Marlow Girls & Ladies) - 36 teams
• Risborough Rangers Juniors - 26 teams
• Flackwell Heath Minors - 26 teams
• Holy Trinity Juniors - 17 teams
• Downley Dynamos Juniors - 15 teams
• Hughenden Valley - 14 teams
• Widmer End Juniors - 12 teams
• Marlow Utd - 11 teams

Leagues

Six leagues operate in Wycombe. They offer competitive opportunity for many different players, including women and girls, youth and adults. While there are no specific league opportunities for disability teams within Wycombe, there is however suitable provision provided in neighbouring Oxford.

Wycombe's largest local leagues (2018/19) include:

• South Bucks Mini Soccer Conference – 288 teams (home and away)
• Wycombe & South Bucks Minor Football League – 233 teams (home and away)
• Bucks Girls Football League – 84 teams (home and away)

The County FA reports that there is some cross boundary migration in Wycombe due to teams migrating outwards to the Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead and inwards from the Chilterns.

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 Wycombe there are eight football teams and four sessions specifically for people with a disability. It is a priority of the County FA to grow this provision. For talented players the FA runs regional centres and England national squads.

Women and girls

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

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

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

At 17, Wycombe’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 Bucks Girls Football League and matches are played on a home and away basis. The league is expected to grow its provision in future years. The local adult female league is the Thames Valley Counties Women’s Football League and matches are played on a home and away and the league is expected to grow its provision in future years.

For talented players, the most local FA Regional Talent Club (RTC) is Reading FC which is located in Reading. 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 FC 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

• Leisure Leagues - at Cressex Sports Pitch Centre & John Hampden Grammar School
• Soccer Sixes - at Wycombe High School & John Hampden Grammar School

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 Wycombe that play in the Wycombe Futsal League at key site locations including Princes Risborough School. It is a priority for the County FA to grow Futsal for youth 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 are currently no FA Just Play Centres in Wycombe. Walking football sessions are delivered by a range of community organisation such as Wycombe Wanderers Sport & Education trust (WWSET). Walking football and Just Play are areas that the County FA has prioritised for further growth and development. Other local recreational football programmes include Football Fans in Training, Holiday Courses and Mosque Competition which are delivered by a range of organisations including WWSET.

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 Wycombe is played particularly in the central part of the local authority. The Rye, Desborough Recreation Ground and Totteridge Recreation Ground are key site locations that are heavily used.

The key strengths of local football in Wycombe include Disability Football and Youth Male provision and it is recommended that this is sustained and also encouraged to grow further. However, gaps in provision do exist, these include FA Mars Just Play Centres.

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

1. Adult Male Recreational Football
2. Adult Male
3. Female Pathway Youth to Adult

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 Wycombe. It identifies current issues and presents opportunities for improvements, including a list of priority projects for potential investment.

Local assets and opportunities have been reviewed in line with four investment priorities:

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

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

While each investment priority is reviewed individually, it is understood that they can be inter-reliant; account is, thus, taken of these potential connections.

3G FTPs are a high quality and indispensable part of modern football facilities; their impact cannot be underestimated. In recent years the industry has seen major innovations and improvements to artificial surfaces (and sports lighting). This has created playing surfaces that replicate a good standard natural turf pitch whilst significantly increasing levels of use (x20). All FTPs must have sports lighting to achieve this.

The high quality, consistent playing surface is the ideal environment to play the game and for young people to learn. With regular maintenance programmes, FTPs can be heavily used all year round with no decline in quality. They almost completely negate annoying fixture cancellations during winter months, helping football to be a key part of a regular physical activity habit.

High capacity levels offer a great opportunity to embrace all formats and engage all participants. A full-sized 3G caters for an average of 1,200 participants per week and is suitable for various location types. That means being fully inclusive to all sections of the community, with a particular focus on under-represented groups such as women and girls, people with a disability, BAME communities and people from lower socio-economic groups.

The way 3G FTPs are used is rapidly changing; current line-marking systems allow for match play across all formats of football (5v5, 7v7, 9v9 and 11v11). This enables significant levels of match-play to be transferred from grass to 3G.

Existing full-sized (11 v 11) 3G FTPs in Wycombe include:

• Amersham & Wycombe College (High Wycombe Campus)
• Cressex Synthetic Sports Pitch Centre

Additionally, there is currently a 5v5 3G FTP at Lane End Sports Association, as well as one at Chepping View Primary Academy which has no floodlighting.

The Council has long-term plans for the development of two new full size 3G FTPs as part of new housing development at the Princes Risborough Extension and Terriers Farm strategic sites. The former is part of a larger new playing field site to be delivered by 2026, whilst the latter is a proposed extension to the existing Hazlemere Recreation Ground where there is current sporting provision.

Wycombe has a PPS undertaken in 2015, however this is no longer considered a presently robust evidence base 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 262 teams based in Wycombe and requiring training facilities, there is a current requirement for seven full sized 3G FTPs. There are two existing full sized 3G FTPs, therefore there is a shortfall of five full sized 3G FTPs.

The LFFP Steering Group agreed that the identification of five full size and one small size 3G project for affiliated football use was appropriate to meet current demand, due to the need to address spatial deficiency in the rural west via a small size pitch. There are planned future developments of at least two full size 3G FTPs through strategic housing schemes in order to meet future football demand from population growth. A second small size 3G project at Green Street has been identified, primarily for the purpose of non-affiliated participation and community delivery led by WWSET.

Both of the pitches are available for community use and on the FA Register for 3G FTPs (meaning they are quality checked and can be used for football match play).

The geographic spread of existing facilities is uneven; the majority are located in the central area of the District. There are provision gaps in the north (Princes Risborough), south (Marlow), east (Hazlemere) and more rural west despite high levels of population and team demand and it is recommended that these are addressed. Local consultation reveals no common issues beyond quantitative undersupply.

Seven priority projects for potential investment are identified. Each was selected based upon a rationale of high population, geographic spread, existing facility quality and high proportions of people from lower social economic group:

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 14 existing grass pitch sites in Wycombe with three or more full-size pitch equivalents (or with fewer than three pitches but deemed to be of strategic importance), containing 48 grass pitches. An additional site, Wycombe District Athletics Complex, has been identified as of strategic importance despite not presently having any football provision. The operator aspires to instate junior pitches to address shortfalls in the area, therefore has been identified as a priority project for pitch improvement. Consequently, there are 15 identified key grass pitch sites in total.

There is also a proposed new pitch site at High Heavens that, if developed, will require instatement of new pitches. This has not been listed as a priority project.

The following sites are planned for future development without funding via the Football Foundation linked to large housing developments and will cater for new usage and provision, though there may be opportunity to supplement investment should there be opportunity to achieve betterment:

• Princes Risborough Extension - new multi-sport playing field site to include new full size 3G FTP and three grass youth football pitches
• Terriers Farm - new playing field land as an extension of the existing provision at Hazlemere Recreation Ground, to include a full size 3G FTP and two new grass youth football pitches.
• Abbey Barn South - two new grass youth football pitches and changing facilities

Of the 15 key pitch sites it was determined that 12 of these should be prioritised for improvements, as well as Wycombe District Athletics Complex which does not presently accomodate football pitches. This will result in quality improvements to 39 existing and two new full-size pitch equivalents:

Twelve priority projects for potential investment have been identified. Sites with pitch quality issues were identified by the LFFP steering group and local consultees. Prioritisation was based on a rationale of selecting sites that had the most pitches and that were 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.

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 15 key grass pitch sites in Wycombe with three or more full-size pitch equivalents (or with fewer than three but deemed to be of strategic importance), 13 sites have suitable changing rooms and two sites require improvement.

In addition to the 15 key sites identified, there is a need for new pavilion provision to be developed at the proposed new High Heavens playing field site if delivered.

Three 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.

Futsal is predominantly played at Princes Risborough School, specifically by the Wycombe Futsal League which has six leagues (three social, three competitive) across U9-U13 age groups. The facility is less than five years old and good quality.

Local consultation reveals that there is a potential opportunity for the development of a new MUGA at Baring Road in Micklefield. This is an area of high population and relatively high proportions of people from lower social economic groups. Micklefield is identified as having the highest levels of inactivity across the District.

Consultation with the LFFP steering group indicates that, at present, no open spaces require improvement 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:

• Contract Manager - Wycombe District Council
• Community Services Manager - Wycombe District Council
• Planning Policy Officer - Wycombe District Council
• Senior Sport & Physical Activity Development Manager - LEAP
• Facilities Relationship Manager - England Hockey
• Head of Trust - WWSET
• Business Manager - Sir William Ramsay School
• Director of PE & Sport - Sir William Borlase's Grammar School
• Business Director - Insignis Academy Trust (Princes Risborough School)
• Student Activities Manager - Bucks New University
• Risborough Rangers
• Hughenden Valley
• Downley Dynamos
• Bourne End Juniors
• Marlow FC
• Marlow United FC
• Flackwell Heath FC
• Flackwell Heath Minors FC
• Marlow Royals
• Marlow Girls & Ladies & Marlow Town
• Marlow Youth