The number, condition and accessibility of grassroots football facilities (natural grass and 3G) have an ongoing impact on participation (among male and female players of all ages) and on the value and effectiveness of the domestic player pathway.
The FA’s 10-year strategy to change the landscape of football facilities in England has, for the last 4-6 years, been underpinned by an action plan for investment in every local authority, referred to as a local football facility plan (LFFP). These are utilised, by the Football Foundation and county FAs as one (among others) of the strategic indicators of facility need (albeit preferably endorsed by an up-to-date PPS generated needs assessment) and thus help to justify Foundation capital investment.
Working closely with the FA and county FAs, the Football Foundation, Sport England and the DCMS, KKP delivered the original LFFP programme. Run over an intensive two-year period, all 318 LFFPs, one for each local authority in England, were completed by between 2018 and mid-2020.
The feedback on existing facilities received at the time as part of the LFFP process mirrored the national strategy painting a picture of poor-quality grass pitches, changing pavilions requiring refurbishment and insufficient club/team access to sports lit, 3G football turf pitches. Having, as part of that process, spoken directly to over 2,000 grassroots football clubs, 300 local authorities plus a range of other stakeholders, the LFFPs developed by our team and the county FAs identified an excellent portfolio of pipeline projects.
This new round of refreshed LFFPs will update information held at all levels about the extent to which projects listed in the original plans have been implemented and the impact on local supply/demand. The process will also ensure that the new LFFPs reflect the 13% year-on-year growth in levels of participation in the girl’s and women’s game – which necessitates additional consideration in respect of the nature and quality of ancillary provision. Arguably also fuelled by the success of the national team, it is predicted that women and girls will account for 21% of all football demand by 2030.
It also reflects the Government’s desire to see that a wider range of sports benefit from this investment.
The majority (200+ and possibly up to 250) of the LFFPs originally commissioned are being updated. In some instances, local government structural change (resulting in fewer individual local authorities) need now to be accounted for. There is also a need for revised national capital expenditure estimates to inform the FA/ Football Foundation dialogue with the new Government about future investment in playing pitch provision.
Claire Waldron, Senior Facilities Planning Manager at the Football Foundation said ‘we are pleased to have commissioned KKP to update the excellent work delivered on the first round of LFFPs. KKP was commissioned, because of the quality of its submission, its knowledge and understanding of the LFFP process and because of its continued pre-eminence delivering playing pitch strategies – the findings and recommendations from many of which will usefully inform this process’.
Paul Hughes, Senior Consultant at KKP who is leading the national refresh process said ‘we were delighted to have been commissioned to deliver this assignment. In so doing, we are looking to build on the strong stakeholder commitment when we ran the original LFFP process, our own PPS-generated information and the excellent relationships we have with the Foundation, county FAs, NGBs and other partners in the sector’.
Contact: Paul Hughes: Senior Consultant (paul.hughes@kkp.co.uk)
Notes
KKP is a leading UK-based multi-disciplinary national and international sports consultancy practice. It offers specialist advice and impartial, objective and creative support to a wide portfolio of clients.
Full detail about KKP’s work, clients and projects is available at www.kkp.co.uk