Shropshire Council
Playing Pitch Strategy 2010 - 2019
A Final Report
December 2010 strategic leisure Shropshire Council Playing Pitch Strategy 2010 - 2020
Table of Contents
1 INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND 1
2 SHROPSHIRE – CONTEXT FOR THE STUDY 4
3 METHODOLOGY 9
4 SUMMARY OF THE RESEARCH COMPLETED 11
5 AUDIT OVERVIEW 15
6 ASSESSMENT AND ANALYSIS SUMMARY – MAIN PITCH SPORTS 24
7 ASSESSMENT AND ANALYSIS SUMMARY – MINOR SPORTS 50
8 SUMMARY OF KEY ISSUES AND CONCLUSIONS 59
9 POLICY OPTIONS APPRAISAL 81
10 RECOMMENDATIONS 84 Shropshire Council Playing Pitch Strategy 2010 - 2020
Table of Appendices
1. STUDY CONSULTEES
2. DEMAND DATA
3. PLAYING PITCH MODEL (PPM)
4. SUPPLY DATA
5. CLUB SURVEY
6. STUDY CONTEXT AND RELEVANT POLICIES Shropshire Council Playing Pitch Strategy 2010 - 2020
Maps
1 ALL SITES WITH COMMUNITY USE*
1a North Sub Area – all sites by community use
1b Central Sub Area – all sites by community use
1c South Area – all sites by community use
2 ALL MINI FOOTBALL SITES WITH COMMUNITY USE
3 ALL SITES WITH YOUTH FOOTBALL PROVISION WITH COMMUNITY USE
4 ALL SITES WITH SENIOR FOOTBALL PROVISION WITH COMMUNITY USE
5 ALL SITES WITH RUGBY PROVISION WITH COMMUNITY USE
6 ALL SITES WITH CRICKET PROVISION WITH COMMUNITY USE
7 ALL SITES WITH AGP’S WITH SECURED COMMUNITY USE
8 ALL SITES WITH BOWLS PROVISION WITH COMMUNITY USE
9 ALL SITES WITH TENNIS PROVISION WITH COMMUNITY USE
10 NORTH SUB AREA ALL SITES BY PITCH TYPE
11 CENTRAL SUB AREA ALL SITES BY PITCH TYPE
12 SOUTH SUB AREA ALL SITES BY PITCH TYPE
13 NORTH SUB AREA ALL COMMUNITY USE SITES BY PITCH QUALITY
14 CENTRAL SUB AREA ALL COMMUNITY USE SITES BY PITCH QUALITY
15 SOUTH SUB AREA ALL COMMUNITY USE SITES BY PITCH QUALITY
16 ALL MINI FOOTBALL SITES BY CATCHMENT AREA
17 ALL YOUTH FOOTBALL SITES BY CATCHMENT AREA
18 ALL SENIOR FOOTBALL SITES BY CATCHMENT AREA
19 ALL RUGBY SITES BY CATCHMENT AREA
20 ALL CRICKET SITES BY CATCHMENT AREA
Shropshire Council Playing Pitch Strategy 2010 - 2020
21 ALL AGP SITES BY CATCHMENT AREA
22 ALL BOWLING GREEN SITES BY CATCHMENT AREA
23 ALL TENNIS SITES BY CATCHMENT AREA
*In Shropshire, with the exception of dual-use AGPs, there is no secured community use of playing pitches, where ‘secured’ means a formal written agreement in place. Therefore, with the exception of hockey, and AGPs, supply and demand has been modelled on community use, as identified through the audit and consultation process. Community use in this strategy reflects the fact that local teams and clubs are able to use the facilities, as are the local community, but there is not necessarily a written/formal or approved agreement/arrangement for this in place. Hockey is modelled on full size AGPs with community use which are suitable for hockey.
Shropshire Council Playing Pitch Strategy 2010 - 2020
1 Introduction and Background
The Project
1.1 Strategic Leisure (SL), part of the URS/Scott Wilson Group, was commissioned by Shropshire Council to develop a Playing Pitch Strategy (PPS). The strategy is based on an eight stage assessment (following the process detailed in Towards a Level Playing Field the Sport England and CCPR 1 guidance on developing local playing pitch strategies) of supply and demand for football, cricket, rugby union and hockey. The Strategy covers a ten year period and will guide long term decision making to align with Shropshire’s Local Development Framework (LDF).
1.2 The PPS has been prepared by SL following the development of an Indoor Facilities Strategy for Shropshire and a Facility Framework for Energize Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin (County Sports Partnership). The PPS therefore reflects the conclusions and recommendations of these strategies where appropriate, and links the strategic direction for future provision of playing pitches with built facilities.
1.3 The assessment of major sports (football, cricket, rugby and hockey), where participation rates are relatively high has included ‘sub-area’ analysis on the basis of the 3 sub areas – North, Central and South. Further analysis has also been undertaken in relation to the planning policy hierarchy, on the basis of the main urban area of Shrewsbury, the market towns and the rural areas.
1.4 This final report is supported by a series of appendices, which contain the detailed modelling and assumptions behind the analysis, together with the methodology. This draft report is intended to provide an overview of the findings of the assessments completed, the key priorities and emerging recommendations, which will then be developed into the final report. It deliberately focuses more on the results of the assessment and recommendations and priorities, rather than the research process and methods, given the complexities of the overall process, and the known priority outcomes and agendas to which this study needs to contribute.
Strategy Aim and Objectives
1.5 The Shropshire Playing Pitch strategy aims to provide a strategic approach to future playing pitch provision; it will provide direction and set priorities for pitch sports for both Shropshire Council and its local partners.
1.6 Whilst the report was commissioned, and is owned by, Shropshire Council there is recognition that a number of the playing pitches within the report are owned and maintained by a range of public, private and voluntary providers. The strategy aims to support each of these and encourage partnership working in order to provide appropriate high quality playing pitch provision for all of Shropshire’s different communities.
1.7 In light of the above, the aim of the study is to produce a playing pitch strategy, which will provide robust justification for future provision of high quality and accessible facilities within Shropshire, in addition to providing policy options and clearly identifying local standards.
1.8 The strategy provides baseline data on the present quantity and quality of all the playing pitches in Shropshire identifies gaps in provision – both quantitative and qualitative. The strategy includes an action plan, agreed with partners, to improve provision for local communities and how this might be achieved.
1 1 CCPR – Central Council for Physical Recreation www.scottwilson.com www.strategicleisure.co.uk 1 Shropshire Council Playing Pitch Strategy 2010 - 2020
1.9 In meeting this aim, the objectives of this study are to:
Produce a strategy based on an assessment using the eight stage Sport England Playing Pitch Model (Towards a Level Playing Field)
Produce a full audit of all playing pitches in the local authority area, including those not available for community use. Data supplied by PMP Consulting was initially utilised as base data, however this was then added to using Active Places, Active Places Power, general internet research, consultation feedback and detailed site visits.
Complete non-technical quality assessments on the majority of sites as agreed with the Client). These included community and non-community use sites to provide an indicative overview of quality, quantity and accessibility. It must be noted that not all site visits were completed within the actual playing season for specific sports; this can have an impact on overall quality scores.
Utilise a range of consultation methods with internal and external key stakeholders, clubs, and NGB’s i.e. on-line surveys, email, telephone and face-to-face consultation to facilitate supply and demand analysis
Help deliver government policies and demonstrate the value of leisure services in terms of locality working, social inclusion, environmental protection, community involvement and healthy living.
Help deliver a value for money process through:
Consultation with pitch-based sports clubs, providers and organised leagues Challenging the current system for sports pitch ownership, management and maintenance Comparison with other local authorities through various benchmarks (team generation rates, the NPFA’s Six Acre Standard, local standards and other performance indicators – see later sections for more details) Competition, perhaps for pitch maintenance contracts.
It will also encourage continuous improvement through monitoring, auditing and benchmarking.
Develop a range of options resulting from the modelling results and use qualitative data to interpret these
Develop clear recommendations for current and future playing pitch provision – levels, location, quality etc
Develop local provision standards reflecting both qualitative and quantitative issues
Provide robust evidence for capital funding bids.
1.10 As well as proving the need for developer contributions towards pitches and facilities, the playing pitch strategy will provide evidence of need for a range of capital grants eg Sport England Lottery Fund, Heritage Lottery Fund (for park improvements), the Football Foundation and the New Opportunities Fund. It will:
Provide the basis for new pitch requirements as a result of new housing developments.
Evidence the need for suitable protection for pitches threatened by development.
Improve Shropshire Council’s asset management, which should result in more efficient use of resources and reduced overheads. www.scottwilson.com www.strategicleisure.co.uk 2 Shropshire Council Playing Pitch Strategy 2010 - 2020
Highlight locations where quality of provision can be enhanced.
Help identify where community use of school sports pitches is most needed. Provide better information to residents and other users of sports pitches. This includes information about both pitches and sports teams. Promote sports development and helping unlock latent demand by identifying where the lack of facilities might be suppressing the formation of teams.
Link closely with Shropshire Access, and Play Strategies to ensure the playing pitch strategy contributes to a holistic approach to open / green space improvement and protection and the development of relevant community green spaces which can be sources of recreation and locations for community events.
Study Scope
1.11 The study encompasses an assessment of all formal outdoor playing pitch facilities (football, cricket, rugby and hockey) in addition to tennis, bowls, athletics and golf. It includes facilities provided via the public, private, education and voluntary sectors and presents an area wide (i.e. Shropshire unitary area), and a sub area assessment of need based on quantity, quality and accessibility.
1.12 The study also takes into account the impact of the projected population growth in Shropshire (circa 26,725 dwellings) and specifically proposed medium housing growth for the areas previously mentioned. The above is crucial when considering the future need for playing pitches within the Shropshire area.
Specific Issues to be tackled by the Strategy
1.13 The proposed development of new residential areas, predicted population growth and the changing expectations of users of leisure facilities will all have implications for the future provision of playing pitches in Shropshire, and particularly Shrewsbury, which is a designated Growth Area.
1.14 Given that Shropshire is now one authority, as opposed to five separate districts, there could be a number of implications for future pitch provision i.e. ongoing maintenance of local authority pitches, cost to hire pitches generally, management and ownership options, because pitch stock has previously been managed differently in these areas.
1.15 The strategy is therefore necessary to:
Protect facilities against development pressures, and specifically residential proposals;
Identify appropriate levels and types of pitch facilities to best meet any predicted population growth and changes in demand levels;
Provide sufficient information to inform planning decisions for sites where there are applications for change of use pending;
Provide a framework identifying priorities for investment and prioritisation of support for funding applications; this includes both playing pitches and changing accommodation, as well as other outdoor sports facilities
Address any ‘demand’ pressures created as a result of specific sports development pressures, in addition to addressing any issues related to provision ‘surplus’
1.16 Identify where a consistent approach to management, maintenance and charging needs to be implemented in the future.
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2 Shropshire – Context for the Study
2.1 Shropshire Council was formally established in April 2009, (from five former districts), and includes various structural aspects for the new locality working arrangements, including Local Joint Committees. These have relevance to parish and town councils (many of whom own and maintain playing pitches and public open spaces) across Shropshire; this playing pitch strategy therefore provides guidance on the nature and level of future demand for pitch provision, in order to assist with future local decision making. This is emerging as an important priority through Shropshire Council’s transformation agenda.
2.2 Shropshire is located in central England midway between the city of Shropshire and the Welsh Border. The area is a diverse, large, predominately rural inland county, with a wide range of land use, economic activities, employment and social conditions. It has a relatively small population, although it has some population spread across approximately 97% of the county.
2.3 Shropshire Council is the unitary authority for Shropshire which became effective from 1 April 2009. Shropshire is made up of the previous District, Borough and County Council local authorities; Shropshire County Council, North Shropshire District Council, Oswestry Borough Council, Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council, Bridgnorth District Council and South Shropshire District Council and is represented in Figure 2.1 below.
2.4 Together with Telford and Wrekin (already unitary) it makes up the ‘County’ and the area covered by the County Sports Partnership (Energize Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin). The Shropshire Playing Pitch Strategy covers the new unitary area, excluding Telford and Wrekin (a recent PPS was produced for Telford and Wrekin, Final Report July 2009).
2.5 The following maps identify the Shropshire unitary area (Figure 2.1) and the previous five key areas (Figure 2.2). The new Shropshire area is recognized as having three main sub areas – north (the former districts of Oswestry and North Shropshire, the central area (formerly Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough) and the south area (formerly Bridgnorth and South Shropshire districts).
Figure 2.1 – New unitary area Figure 2.2 – Previous 5 Areas (plus Telford & Wrekin)
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2.6 The administration of leisure has been divided into 3 areas under Shropshire Council and for the purposes of analysis within this strategy Shropshire is referenced by the same 3 areas as illustrated in the Figure below:
Table 2.1 - Shropshire Analysis areas Analysis area Previous authority area
North Shropshire District
North
Oswestry Borough
Central Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough
Bridgnorth District
South
South Shropshire District
2.7 The playing pitch and outdoor sports strategy is important in guiding the development of Leisure Services and providing an integrated strategic approach to facility provision across all sectors i.e. public, commercial, education and voluntary.
2.8 In line with the above, the Shropshire Playing Pitch Strategy:
Provides a comprehensive inventory of outdoor sports facilities, taking into account any planned/proposed facility developments, where known, and the difference that any key developments could make to the area
Quantifies the current and future balance between supply and demand of outdoor sports facilities and pitches, taking into account potential population increases/decreases, predicted participation increases in line with the specific targets developed for pitch sports by relevant National Governing Bodies (NGBs), and changes in demographic profiles (and the subsequent impact these may have on future demand levels)
Identifies key issues (qualitative and quantitative) with existing playing pitches and outdoor sports facilities and any apparent gaps in provision, and provides firm recommendations to address any such issues i.e. re provision of pitches for different uses and priority pitch improvements etc
N.B It is important to stress that the data sources used for this report are as comprehensive as was possible at the time; they include baseline supply data prepared to support the countywide PPG17 assessment, which was actually submitted prior to unitary status by the former Shropshire authorities. This data has been checked and verified wherever possible, through site audits, consultation and desk research.
2.9 A review of the key demographic, social and policy context has identified a number of key considerations for the strategy. These include:
The Population - Shropshire’s population has been increasing at a faster rate (7%) than England (5.3%) as a whole since 1991. The north area (former Oswestry and North Shropshire districts) population has experienced the highest level of growth since 1991 (14%), compared with the other former Shropshire districts, whereas the south (former Bridgnorth district) has experienced the lowest population growth (3%) followed closely by the former borough of Shrewsbury and Atcham.
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Rounded sub national population data (2008) provided by Shropshire Council shows the predicted increases in population, 2010 – 2029. This equates to a further 8.55% increase in population to 2029:
Table 2.2 - Population Growth across Shropshire Former Local Authority 2010 Population 2029 Population Population increase Area North Shropshire 102,100 117,300 15,200 South Shropshire 95,000 102,300 7,300 Central 95,800 100,700 4,900 Overall (total) 292,900 320,300 27,400 2008 Sub National population data projections (rounded)
Population Distribution and Density - As the major urban area, Shrewsbury has the largest population and greatest population density in the county; nevertheless its population density of 1.60 persons per hectare is less than half the national average (3.82 persons per hectare). The north of Shropshire has the fewest residents, although its population density is above the county average (1.53). The south of Shropshire has the lowest population density of any district in the West Midlands region; its density is one tenth of the regional average.
Approximately 36% of the population live in rural areas; this sizeable proportion of the population is distributed widely and sparsely across a large geographical area. This population distribution together with a low population density makes delivering services effectively and efficiently more difficult. It is therefore crucial that there is a good spread of pitch sites both in and around urban areas, in addition to the larger more rural areas throughout the county. Good quality, accessible provision covering a range of sports needs to be provided within rural areas, especially where poor transport services are available.
Ageing Population – The demographic profile of Shropshire highlights a predominance of older age groups as is the case nationwide. However this issue is slightly more prevalent in Shropshire as there are a larger number of older people and fewer younger people, compared to the average for England. The number of older people is also increasing at a faster rate than in England. A large proportion of the population is approaching retirement and services/facilities will increasingly need to take account of these demographic changes when planning, delivering and financing future priorities.
Falling numbers of Younger People – As is the case nationwide, the number of younger people in Shropshire is falling. This issue could be more prevalent in Shropshire because there is an increasingly older population. This has an impact on the type and level of need for future indoor and outdoor sport facilities, in addition to the levels of disposable income (retired people have greater disposable income than younger people) which can be spent within the local economy on services and use of facilities.
Falling Birth rates – This is both an issue nationally and for the county. Birth rates have been falling since the early 70’s; in Shropshire there was a decrease of 14% in the 0-4 year age group between 1991 and 2005, compared to a fall of 11% nationally. This will have implications for the future planning of school and other children’s services in addition to types and levels of services needed, including sports provision.
Population Density and Distribution - Shropshire has a very low population density, except in the urban areas.
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Housing Growth in Shropshire - there is significant population growth predicted for Shropshire, particularly around Shrewsbury, which will occur as a result of new residential development. Some of the houses will be replacement stock, however there will also be new growth, leading to an overall increase in population. For example the Sustainable Housing Urban Extension in the NW of Shrewsbury will realise the development of 6,500 new houses.
2.10 Table 2.3 provides an overview of all predicted housing growth in Shropshire, based on the West Midlands Housing Market Area, Strategic Housing Market Assessment 2005:
Table 2.3 - Household change projections for Shropshire, 2001 - 2026 Annual Area 2001 2026 Increase Increase % Growth Shropshire 117,439 144,164 26,725 22.76% 0.82%
West Midlands 2,154,614 2,598,289 443,675 20.59% 0.75%
Major Urban Areas 1,135,677 1,327,391 191,714 16.88% 0.63%
2.11 Shropshire Council has identified a settlement hierarchy in its Core Strategy which highlights Shrewsbury as the main urban centre for the county. The settlement hierarchy is based around:
Shrewsbury – main urban area
Market Towns (17)
Rural Villages (sometimes a number of smaller villages are considered as a cluster
2.12 This settlement hierarchy forms the basis for the recommendations of this playing pitch strategy. Of particular importance in relation to this hierarchy is the future focus on place-making, and locality sub areas and how market towns, (particularly the larger centres of population), fit into this framework, based on the fact that they will be the future focus for many types of community provision, including dual-use sport and leisure facilities.
2.13 Other key documents influencing the playing pitch strategy include the Shropshire Council Corporate Plan 2009-2013, and in particular Aim 2:
‘To improve the health and well-being of Shropshire’s residents’
2.14 and its objective:
‘Promote opportunities for residents to lead active lives and enjoy their free time through a range of activities Promote opportunities for residents to lead active lives and enjoy their free time through a range of activities’
2.15 The Sustainable Community Strategy for Shropshire 2010-2020 sets out the following Vision for the County as: ‘a Flourishing Shropshire’.
2.16 The provision of sport and sports facilities is identified as a key objective of the Strategy; by 2010 there will be better leisure facilities, people will be more active and healthier, and therefore health inequalities will have reduced.
2.17 A summary of the Shropshire Core Strategy priorities and objectives of relevance to the playing pitch strategy, together with references to other key policies and strategies is in Appendix 7.
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2.18 It is clear that the demographic make-up of the new Shropshire unitary area, in addition to projected areas of housing growth, will have an impact on current and future outdoor sport facility requirements; these will be important factors in making informed decisions regarding specific pitch sites in the future.
2.19 It is also important to highlight that a separate PPG17 audit and assessment has been undertaken in parallel with the development of the PPS. The PPG17 looks at the quality and quantity of all open space in Shropshire, including outdoor sport. This PPS will be used to inform this assessment in relation to playing pitches. The correlation between the two studies, their findings and outcomes is covered in Section 8.
2.20 The outcomes of the PPS will be fed into a series of Place Plans which have been devised as part of the Local Development Framework Implementation Plan. These outline the infrastructure and investment requirements which are needed to support the level and location of development for the 18 market towns and key settlements in Shropshire, as outlined in the Core Strategy. They cover physical infrastructure (transport, energy, water, waste, minerals and ICT/digital), economic infrastructure (regeneration, business growth and employment, skills training) social infrastructure (education, health and community facilities) and green infrastructure (open spaces, recreation and sporting facilities and green public realm) requirements.
2.21 The Place Plans bring together “top down” schemes, originating from large organisations such as Shropshire Council, and “bottom up” schemes, originating from community aspirations. They will be used to assist in prioritising which are the most important schemes within a particular place, given limited resources, and will help to provide a delivery programme for targeting resources, including developer contributions, in order to create and maintain each place as a sustainable community.
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3 Methodology
3.1 The strategy has been developed using the guidance developed by Sport England and the Central Council for Physical Recreation (CCPR) detailed in Towards a Level Playing Field. This moves away from the application of generic provision standards (as currently used in UDP and Parks Strategy) and advocates focused research to identify local demand and supply, factor in qualitative factors and assess the adequacy of provision relating to quantity, quality and access for individual sports. Fundamentally this means the assessment results will be different. Deficiencies recorded using one method will not necessarily be recorded using the other, and vice versa. A detailed account of the methodology, analysis toolkits and assessment parameters is provided in the detailed technical report.
The Eight Stage Playing Pitch Model
3.2 The methodology comprises of an eight-stage approach, as summarised in the figure below. This involves a number of specific research tasks to build a comprehensive audit. A series of toolkits are used to analyse the data collected with the resulting assessment figures interpreted in consideration to the local context and results of stakeholder consultation.
Table 3.1 - Playing Pitch Assessment Methodology Stage Description and Key Output
Identification of the number of teams
Demand is established through a count of the number of teams for each sport using Stage 1 a variety of information sources, including pitch booking records, league handbooks, and a club survey. Latent demand and the impact of future population projections are also considered.
Calculating home games per team per week
Stage 2 In a ‘normal’ situation for all sports, the number of home games is calculated as 0.5 of the total number of teams, representing weekly ‘home’ and ‘away’ fixtures.
Assessing Total Number of Home Games per week
Stage 3 This is the product of Stages 1 and 2, and is therefore not independent. The resultant figure indicates how many games have to be accommodated in the study area in the average week.
Establishing Temporal Demand for Games
Stage 4 This stage assesses the proportion of total home games played on each day. The data is expressed as a percentage of total weekly demand. This Stage will determine what percentage of all games is played on a Saturday for example.
Defining pitches used / required on each day
Stage 5 This is the product of Stages 3 and 4, and is not therefore independent. The resultant figure will indicate the pitches used/required on each day and time e.g. Saturday p.m.
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Stage Description and Key Output
Establishing pitches available
An accurate assessment of supply is produced which distinguishes between pitches for each sport and between ownership (public, private, voluntary and educational sites). In modelling the existing situation, only pitches currently available for the appropriate days/times will be relevant. In Shropshire, with the exception of dual-use AGPs, there is no secured community use of playing pitches, where ‘secured’ means a formal written Stage 6 agreement in place. Therefore, with the exception of hockey, and AGPs, supply and demand has been modelled on community use, as identified through the audit and consultation process. Community use in this strategy reflects the fact that local teams and clubs are able to use the facilities, as are the local community, but there is not necessarily a written/formal or approved agreement/arrangement for this in place. Hockey is however modelled on full size AGPs with community use which are suitable for hockey; this is because many of the AGPs on school sites, unlike grass pitches, are included in the community use agreements for indoor facil.
Assessing the Findings
The requirements to accommodate demand assessed at Stage 5 are then compared Stage 7 with the facilities as available at Stage 6. If the existing situation has been accurately modelled there should be either a good numerical fit between requirements and facilities available, or even ‘surplus’ provision on some days.
Identifying policy options and solutions
A range of policy options can be developed, such as new provision or pitch Stage 8 improvements, to help the problems identified at Stage 7. The method can then be used to further assess the impact of policy options, and contribute to the selection of the most cost-effective solution.
Adapted from Towards a Level Playing Field – Sport England and CCPR (Page 11)
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4 Summary of the Research Completed
4.1 The key research methods, success of these and explanations of any specific assumptions made in the application of the PPM are summarised below and explained in more detail in the technical report. The assessment of supply and demand has been undertaken on a Shropshire wide basis
Summary of auditing techniques and data gathering
Supply Audit
4.2 The current supply of pitches was established through undertaking a series of data review, research and consultation exercises. These consisted of:
Review of information held by Shropshire Council relating to the supply of playing pitches – this included reviewing lists held by Sport and Leisure Officers, the listing compiled by the former districts, and a review of GIS datasets and mapping layers.
Review of data collated by pmpgenesis from the former districts as part of the PPG17 assessment
Review of aerial photography to cross check all listed facilities identified and highlight any potential gaps in current information
Review of information published on relevant websites containing supply information – including Active Places, school and university websites;
421 audit visits to 806 separate pitch and outdoor sport facilities on 433 sites (some on shared sites) - These provide a total of 526 playing pitches in use across the sports assessed - 71 mini football pitches, 103 youth football pitches, 174 senior football pitches, 69 rugby pitches, 73 cricket pitches, 16 grass hockey pitches), 20 AGPs (14 sand-filled, 2 x 3G, 2 x synthetic, 2 x water- based), plus tennis courts (157), bowls (116) and 26 athletic track facilities (24 grass, 2 synthetic) and 7 golf courses. ‘Quality audits’ formed part of these visits and were completed using the Sport England Non-Technical Visual Assessment proforma. Visits were conducted during the summer of 2009, and further site visits were made in February – March 2010
Consultation with key stakeholders (Governing Bodies of Sport, Sport England, Council Officers from Leisure, Sport Development, the CSP, Education, and Planning) – this was completed predominantly via the Steering Group and consultation meetings which met throughout through the research process. In addition supply information was collected and corroborated through meetings with planning, sport and leisure officers.
Collection of supply data of all council and private schools and further education providers. For Council schools data was collected through the meetings undertaken for the Facility Strategy eg the Education Asset Management team. This was supplemented by follow up telephone consultation to corroborate data. Key questions were asked about facilities on site, use of these, and their quality and accessibility status (i.e. whether arrangements for secured community use are in place).
A postal survey, and follow up telephone consultation to all identified and relevant sports clubs within Shropshire – this focussed on demand information (see below) but also asked clubs about the (quantity, quality and accessibility of) facilities they use.
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Demand Audit
4.3 In establishing the current demand for pitches a series of research and consultation exercises were completed, specifically:
Consultation with NGB representatives for all the sports included in the study scope to identify and review existing information, help promote the consultation and research planned and encourage clubs to participate in providing data
An initial sports club questionnaire sent to identified clubs within the authority area and in some cases beyond – nearly 500 surveys were distributed to all identified clubs (by post and e-survey) identified by the respective NGB representatives drawing on their databases and records e.g. FA’s CAS database and Local Area Data (LADS), and the RFU’s Club Pack listings, plus the minor outdoor sports. As outlined above this asked a number of questions relating to both demand and supply in addition to key issues and challenges experienced, and planned growth / developments expected in the future
Additional telephone consultation with key sports clubs (focusing on non-respondents) to secure acceptable response rates (see below).
A review of booking information from pitch sites within Shropshire where applicable – this was limited as there is no ‘master’ booking record or listing of pitches operated by Shropshire Council. There are a number of different management and booking processes in place, reflecting the former district practices, plus a number of pitches are owned and operated by town and parish councils, who hold their own records.
A review of League Handbooks and team listings, online forums and related information where available.
A review of relevant websites for clubs and leagues, predominantly aimed at ‘gap filling’ information collected.
Consultation with local area Sport and Leisure Officers, and other local stakeholders to help corroborate information collected and identify key gaps locally.
Consultation with League Secretaries (by survey and through a discussion group) to explore current and future trends in demand (i.e. increasing/declining team numbers).
The evidence base: survey response rates
4.4 Final response rates for the surveys administered were:
Football Clubs – 259 of 520 teams consulted, representing 50% of all identified teams. All major youth teams provided a response. A detailed analysis of responses by sub area is included in Appendix 8.
Cricket Clubs – 89 of 191 affiliated teams, representing 47% of all identified teams
Rugby Union - 100% of teams identified (total 103).
Hockey – 31 of 50 teams consulted, representing 62% of all identified teams
4.5 The above response rate broadly equates to consultation with more than half of all identified clubs (representing more than 56% of identified teams). This is considered to provide a robust sample, supplemented by the views of wider stakeholders, on which to form a set of clear conclusions.
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Quantifying non-club/team demand for the major sports
4.6 Although the assessment is focused on community sport, with identified teams playing regular league/competitive fixtures as the ‘demand unit’, the PPM prompts the need to consider other demands placed on sports pitches. Some attempt has therefore been made to do this using the following assumptions.
4.7 School sport and team equivalents generated by PE use of facilities has also been partially quantified and factored into the modelling accordingly. Although the focus of the assessment and resulting strategy is community sport, consideration has been given to the demand generated by school sport (Physical Education and School teams taking part in local competitions) and the use of available supply. In Shropshire, and particularly Shrewsbury, many school sites are available (and in use) for local teams to hire and use as home venues. Only some of these sites have formal community use agreements in place. Accounting for and factoring in school use of pitches has been quantified slightly differently across the four major sports identified, depending on the availability and quality of information available.
Estimating and projecting future demand
4.8 For population growth figures, information provided by Shropshire Council planners has been used. These provide a more accurate picture of population growth in the main urban area around Shrewsbury. The team generation rates established for each sub-area have been used to identify ‘organic’ growth that is likely to occur as a result of this based on change to the ‘active population’.
4.9 Target growth rates for each of the sports were agreed with the appropriate NGB or local representative. The growth rates for sports (based on the first 5 years of this strategy, after which time supply, demand and participation should be reviewed and updated) used are:
Football: locally developed targets per annum for the next 5 years (based on FA 3 year targets averaged out) – equating to a 5.3% growth in Mini Soccer teams (FA figures 16% over 3 years), 6.3% growth in Youth teams (girls and boys collectively; FA figures 19% over 3 years) and around 1.6% increase in Senior teams (FA figures 5% over 3 years)
Cricket: assuming a 1% growth in players year on year equates to a 4.2% increase in the number of teams over 5 years (minimum figure assumed in the absence of any regional growth targets (should be available October 2010)).
Rugby Union: a 2% growth year on year in senior players up to 2015, equating to an average of 1 additional senior team per club (target in line with the RFU Strategic Plan)
Hockey: No specific national or regional target has been set; discussion with the regional development officer agreed a growth target of 2% year on year.
Quality Audit and Assessment
4.10 The quality of pitches has been assessed using a non-technical visual assessment proforma. This is part of the Towards a Level Playing Field toolkit and is included within the technical report appendices. The quality proforma collects a range of information about pitches based on a visual inspection. Specific criteria rated include:
Grass cover;
Length of grass;
Size of pitch (and suitability);
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Slope;
Evenness;
Presence of common pitch problems; and
Availability of changing rooms.
4.11 Each pitch is scored out of a possible 100% and graded on a quality scale from ‘Poor’ through to ‘Excellent’. A proforma is also used to provide a quality rating for the ancillary facilities serving the site and rates the quality of the changing accommodation, parking facilities and general site access.
4.12 In making recommendations and interpreting assessment results, pitch quality scores have been considered alongside sports club ratings of the facilities they use. The quality scores for all pitches identified is included in Appendix 1 as part of the overall pitch supply data.
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5 Audit Overview
Supply of playing pitches in Shropshire
5.1 Playing pitches come in various dimensions and surfaces depending on the sport for which they are used, and the ages of the participants. Playing pitches in this strategy reflect the categories set out in Table 5.1:
Table 5.1 - Pitch Dimensions Dimensions Age Pitch Type Length (m) Width (m) Group Min Max Min Max
Mini-Soccer U7 - U8 27.5 36.6 18.3 27.5
Mini-Soccer U9 - U10 45 55 27.5 36.6
Junior Football* U16 82 90 45 90
Senior Football* 16+ 90 120 45 90
Cricket* U18 37m minimum from edge of cricket square to outfield boundary
Cricket* 18+ 45.72m minimum from edge of cricket square to outfield boundary
Rugby Union* Senior n/a 144† n/a 70
Hockey AGP Senior n/a 91.4 n/a 55
* Dimensions vary for different standards of play, age groups and grades of competition † Measured from dead-ball line
5.2 A total of 404 playing pitch sites currently in use have been identified. These provide a total of 526 playing pitches in use across the sports assessed - 71 mini football pitches, 103 youth football pitches, 174 senior football pitches, 69 rugby pitches, 73 cricket pitches, 16 grass hockey pitches), plus 20 AGPs (14 sand-filled, 2 x 3G, 2 X synthetic, 2 x water-based). Not all pitches are currently available for community use under formal agreements. Map 1 shows all sites by Community Use. Maps 1a, 1b and 1c show each sub area and all sites by Community Use.
5.3 Maps 13, 14 and 15 illustrate the mapping by quality, of all community use pitches. Map 15 shows that pitches in the South sub area are generally of a poorer quality than in the other two sub areas.
5.4 Map 13 shows that a higher number of pitches in the North sub area, particularly in and around Oswestry, are of below average quality. There are also poor quality pitches in and around Shrewsbury (Map 14).
5.5 Table 5.2 illustrates the current level of main pitch provision by type and sub area across Shropshire.
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Table 5.2 All Playing Pitch Provision across Shropshire by type and sub area CRICKET HOCKEY RUGBY HOCKEY PITCHES PITCHES (FULL FOOTBALL PITCHES CRICKET RUGBY PITCHES WITH PITCHES AREA FOOTBALL PITCHES WITH SIZE) WITH WITH COMMUNITY USE PITCHES PITCHES COMMUNITY (FULL COMMUNITY SECURED USE SIZE) USE COMMUNITY USE MINI JUNIOR SENIOR MINI JUNIOR SENIOR
SHROPSHIRE 71 103 174 44 70 141 73 55 69 45 12 6
NORTH SUB 16 29 59 12 24 47 25 18 21 15 5 1 AREA
CENTRAL 35 35 62 16 19 59 20 16 16 10 2 1 SUB AREA
SOUTH SUB 20 39 53 14 27 35 28 21 32 20 5 4 AREA
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Ownership, management and community access
5.6 Pitches are owned and managed by a number of different organisations and available through a significant number of different management and hiring arrangements. For ease of analysis, four broad ownership categories have been used: Local Authority (Shropshire Council, plus Town and Parish Councils); Private (private sports clubs, corporate grounds, commercial businesses), Schools/Universities/College including Independent Schools, and Other e.g. community groups, Trusts, etc.
Table 5.3 - Pitches by ownership and community access Number of Number of % (of sites) in Ownership/Management sites pitches community use Local Authority (predominantly Shropshire Council, but also including Town and Parish 135 370 88(65%) ** councils)* Private Providers (including club owned 105 88 101(96%) facilities) Schools/Universities/Colleges/Independent 143 58 79 (41%) Schools Other 21 10 10(48%) TOTALS 404 526 278 (77%) **Not all sites currently have pitches operational
Shropshire Council Pitches - Management and access
5.7 The management of public pitches varies significantly in terms of their management and access arrangements, with some managed centrally through Leisure Services (for SCC pitches), and others, booked locally through eg schools.
5.8 Overall there is no one central database of pitch facilities; this is partly the result of the various arrangements from the five former local authorities which still need to be integrated..
5.9 On-site school pitches are managed directly, with decisions made about community use made by the individual schools, given that in Shropshire, there are no formal community use agreements covering playing pitches, other than AGPs on dual use sites. Although guidance about general asset management and the considerations for community use are provided by the Education Asset Management team, specific arrangements, policies and practice are determined by the school locally. Naturally this creates a variety of different arrangements and the ‘offer’ available to local clubs. It also means that in theory, pitches without a formal community agreement could be withdrawn from availability on the decision of the school/club/organisation alone.
5.10 Some schools do not have access to on site playing pitch provision. These schools (at least in theory) have access to a number of off site facilities (‘unattached’ playing fields). Consultation with some schools suggests many do not make use of the facilities because of resource issues and the practicalities with transport and time available for PE lessons. Some of these unattached fields are also available for community use, but the lack of appropriate changing provision impacts on this.
5.11 These factors have the potential to lead to some confusion for potential hirers. Feedback from some clubs consulted would suggest that this is the case in some areas. While some report a close working relationship with SC Council officers in relation to booking, maintenance and dealing with issues, others report limited awareness of how to access facilities.
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Shropshire Council Pitches - Maintenance
5.12 Across the stock of what are now Shropshire Council pitches there have been a range of maintenance providers and regimes, reflecting the governance of 5 former local authorities.. In many cases schools arrange their own management arrangements, including buying in the use of Council Grounds Maintenance Contractors to provide this service. As a result there are several different maintenance providers across the whole stock of pitch facilities, including education provision.
5.13 Grounds maintenance often emerges as a key issue in any pitch assessment. Many clubs using public facilities in particular hold negative views about the facilities they use. However, not all their views are attributable to grounds maintenance specifications or quality of service. In many cases, because public pitches are often located within publicly accessible open space, there is a ‘quality ceiling’ i.e. they are open to unofficial sporting use and other recreational use. Although not always evident from site visits, there were some no Figure examples of sites which attract significant ‘other’ use. The key issues and challenges raised include:
Most complaints on grounds maintenance relate to the most heavily used sites – negative views therefore may be the result of over use rather than inadequate maintenance, especially due to poor drainage.
Additional maintenance required to sites can be expensive; priority should be given to multi- pitch sites, accessible for a range of community pitch sports, where best value will be drived from investment in pitch improvements.
There are inherent challenges in providing quality facilities on open access sites – this is the case particularly for cricket where wickets are difficult to protect.
5.14 The audit has also picked up some potential issues with how maintenance issues are reported back to Shropshire Council. This is largely the result of the need to integrate 5 former approaches to dealing with this type of information, plus the fact that some schools let out their pitches without formal community use arrangements, so there are additional different systems for reporting maintenance issues.
Demand for playing pitches in Shropshire
Formal demand: Community Clubs and Teams in Shropshire
5.15 There are around 254 clubs (184 football, 51 cricket, 10 rugby, 9 hockey) across the 4 main pitch sports assessed. The majority of these play regular fixtures in affiliated and unaffiliated leagues. The clubs generate in the region of 863 teams. Football, as in most areas of the country accounts for most of this – 72.5% of all teams identified are football teams playing regular games. There are more teams in all the four sports in the south area than the north and central sub areas.
Team Generation Rates
5.16 Team Generation Rates (TGRs) indicate how many people in a specified age group are required to generate one team. They are a useful indicator of levels of demand, particular for an area as large as Shropshire (in terms of both population and geography) to identify variances in demand levels. The following Table provides an overview of the TGRs for the four major sports for each of the sub analysis areas. The implications of these are covered in more detail in the sport specific assessments and commentary on each area within the technical report.
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Table 5.4 - Team Generation Rates Team Generation Rates (4 main pitch sports)– Shropshire and by Sub Area Sport / team type Shropshire overall North Central South Mini Soccer 93 118 91 71 Youth Football – Boys 75 104 76 54 Football Youth Football – Girls 299 313 352 239 Senior Football – Men 310 376 233 372 Senior Football- Women 8,015 17,063 + 4,263 6,988 Youth Cricket – Boys 297 425 534 114 Youth Cricket – Girls 2,261 3,300 5,275 654 Cricket Senior Cricket – Men 504 526 595 396 Senior Cricket - Women 15,406 22,175 N/A 6733 Mini Rugby Union 395 378 389 425 Youth Rugby – Boys 473 665 675 243 Rugby Union Youth Rugby – Girls 1,054 425 N/A 1400 Senior Rugby – Men 1,633 2,007 3,906 855 Senior Rugby - Women 22,882 N/A 15,225 13,475 Youth Hockey – Boys 1,146 1,713 3,633 304 Youth Hockey – Girls 1,650 2,150 2,973 0 Hockey Senior Hockey – Men 2,579 3,613 3,490 1775 Senior Hockey – Women 4,007 2,844 8,525 3494 Figures show the number of residents (of the sport playing age) required to generate one team. For example across Shropshire it takes 93 6-9 year olds to generate one mini soccer team – this compares to 1 team for every 71 residents aged 6-9 in the South area. i.e. there is a ‘higher’ rate of team generation in the South sub area than in Shropshire overall. There is a higher team generation rate in the Central sub area ie 1 senior male football team generated for every 233 residents aged 16-45, than in the North (376) and South (372) sub areas. Highest and lowest TGRs shaded in green and red accordingly.
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Variances in TGRs across Shropshire
5.17 The summary Figure of TGRs highlights a number of key findings in relation to variances in demand across Shropshire. In some areas there are no teams of key types (e.g. women’s football, women’s rugby.
5.18 The Central sub area stands out as ‘low performing’ generally in terms of TGRs except in senior football (male and female) and no teams at all in women’s cricket and youth girls’ rugby. For the purpose of the comments made, ‘high’ TGRs refer to those indicating high levels of demand (ie where lower population numbers generate the most number of teams). Key observations are:
Generally the highest TGRs across all the sports are recorded in the South sub area
There are high levels of demand in the South sub area for all football except senior, all cricket, boys’ rugby, and youth and male hockey; there are more teams in the South sub area for all sports except football than the other two sub areas, but the lowest number of community accessible pitches
Low TGRs for mini and youth football in the North sub area; this area has the fewest number of teams of all sub areas for football and cricket, and yet conversely the most number of community accessible pitches
Large gaps between the lowest and highest TGRs across the 3 sub areas in senior women’s’ cricket, youth boys’ and girls’ cricket, senior rugby and all categories of hockey. As an example it takes over 4 times as many women to generate an senior football team in the North sub area as in the South sub area
Highest level of demand for cricket is in the South sub area, where there are also the most number of senior male teams and 22 affiliated clubs
Rugby TGRs are generally highest in the North sub area, except for youth boys’; this is attributable to the size of the 3 clubs in the area (Market Drayton, Oswestry and Whitchurch) despite the fact that there are actually more clubs in the South sub area (6)
Hockey TGRs are generally highest in the South sub area, except for girls’ hockey; this is attributable to the size of the 3 clubs in the area (Bishops Castle, Bridgnorth and Ludlow), which generate the most teams (13) of the 3 sub areas, despite the fact there are also 3 main clubs (Oswestry, Wem and Whitchurch) in the North sub area, generating 11 teams
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Comparison with national average TGRs
5.19 Comparisons to TGRs nationally (i.e. to demonstrate whether demand in Shropshire is generally higher or lower than other areas) is limited. The national database of TGRs is out of date and includes few studies completed within the last 3-4 years. It is also limited in relation to sports other than football (in relation to the number of studies included). A summary review focussing on football and cricket TGRs has been completed. Key observations are highlighted below.
Football For mini soccer the national average is the generation of 4.56 teams per 1,000 population. In Shropshire this is 10.8 suggesting that demand is well above the national average which is based on a very small sample and studies up to 2005-2006. The Shropshire wide rate of team generation for youth boys’ football is 13.4 compared to the national average of 11. For senior male football, figures from the national database indicate that on average 2.8 teams per 1,000 population are generated. This rate for Shropshire is higher at around 3.2. With regard to girls’ football team generation is significantly higher than the national averages. For girls’ football 3.3 teams are generated locally compared to 0.81 nationally. For women it is much lower at 0.1 teams compared to 0.08 nationally.
Cricket Team Generation across youth cricket is roughly equivalent in Shropshire (at 3.4 teams per 1,000 for boys and 0.4 for girls) as available national figures (3.6 youth boys teams per 1,000). Senior rates in Shropshire are also in line with the national average. 2 senior male teams per 1,000 are generated in Shropshire compared with almost 2 nationally. The local rate does vary significantly however e.g. 8.8 youth boys’ teams per 1000 in the South sub area, compared to 1.9 in the Central sub area.
5.20 Comparison of Shropshire TGRs with a similar large rural area, with small market towns is also useful to illustrate patterns of participation. Shropshire is compared to Northumberland below; the study in Northumberland was undertaken in 2010.
Table 5.5 Comparison of Shropshire and Northumberland TGRs NORTHUMBERLAND SHROPSHIRE (based on the number (based on the number of SPORT/TEAM TYPE of people required to generate 1 age people required to generate group team) 1 age group team) Mini Soccer 93 79 Youth Football – Boys 75 47 Youth Football – Girls 299 444 Senior Football – Men 310 232 Senior Football- Women 8,015 9,043 Youth Cricket – Boys 297 152 Youth Cricket – Girls 2,261 5,966 Senior Cricket – Men 504 523 Senior Cricket - Women 15,406 10,074 Mini Rugby Union 395 535 Youth Rugby – Boys 473 414 Youth Rugby – Girls 1,054 1,671 Senior Rugby – Men 1,633 1,462 Senior Rugby - Women 22,882 16,607 Youth Hockey – Boys 1,146 8257 Youth Hockey – Girls 1,650 1,080 Senior Hockey – Men 2,579 7,814 Senior Hockey – Women 4,007 6,782
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5.21 The comparator figures demonstrate close similarities across age groupd for various sports; both Shropshire and Northumberland have high TGRs (ie where a smaller population is required to generate 1 team in that age group for that sport) in mini soccer, junior boys’ and girls’ football, junior boys’ cricket and rugby. Both counties have lower TGRs generally for womens’ teams, and for senior men, except football where it is higher than the national average. Specific differences in levels of TGRs reflect the variance in development work undertaken at a local level, specific sport initiatives and to some extent accessibility to facilities. Hockey and football exemplify this; Shropshire clearly has higher TGRs across hockey except in relation to junior girls, whereas Northumberland has very high TGRs for mini soccer, junior boys’ and senior men’s’ football.
5.22 A summary of the Active People Surveys (APS) 1, 2 and 3 is shown overleaf:
Table 5.6 - A summary of the Active People Surveys Shropshire West Mids Region National
AP1 AP2 AP3 AP1 AP2 AP3 AP1 AP2 AP3 Football 5.86 7.13 7.17 6.81 7.52 7.45 7.15 7.58 7.44 Cricket 0.83 1.01 1.33 0.92 1.16 1.04 0.93 1.01 1.02 Rugby 0.54 0.99 0.67 0.67 0.86 0.88 0.66 0.76 0.74 Hockey 0.55 0.39 0.63 0.35 0.42 0.33 0.35 0.38 0.37
N.B Figures in Red = notably lower than national/regional figures Figures in Green = notably higher than national/regional figures
5.23 The APS figures suggest that senior, ie 16+, participation in football is lower than regional and national, levels, although there has been a significant increase from AP1 to AP3. The APS and TGR figures differ slightly, but are both around the national average.
5.24 There has been an impressive increase in participation in cricket - from 0.83% to 1.33% by AP3 putting cricket participation higher than the regional and national average. Again APS and TGR figures differ slightly but both are around the national average; the increase in participation in cricket reflects the development work undertaken with clubs in the area over recent years.
5.25 Participation in rugby appears to have 'spiked' in AP2 - from a low level in AP1, and is now levelling off (lower than region and national averages).
5.26 There is high participation in hockey - current levels in Shropshire are notably higher than the West Mids and the rest of the country.
5.27 In summary in Shropshire there are some instances where high TGRs reflect higher participation rates generally in sport and physical activity.
5.28 Consideration of TGR figures in Shropshire does also suggest some very limited correlation between levels of supply and demand in specific sports eg high levels of demand for hockey in the North and South sub areas where there are 8 AGPs in each area. Similarly there is high demand for rugby in the South sub area where there is the highest number of community accessible rugby pitches.
5.29 Conversely there is highest demand for youth and mini football in the South sub area and yet there are fewest community accessible football pitches in this area. In the case of cricket, there is roughly the same number of community accessible cricket pitches across all sub areas, and yet the highest demand is in the South sub area.
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5.30 It is important to stress in relation to the above that the relatively high level of pitches provided through independent and other schools, plus the large number of club owned facilities, particularly in relation to rugby and cricket, are likely to be affecting the above figures. Such pitches may or may not be recognised as community accessible, depending on the approach of the provider i.e. a pitch may have been described as such although it is actually only used by one club/team. Conversely, a lower level of community accessible pitch provision does not necessarily imply a deficiency in provision, given that clubs/teams may in reality have access to a pitch not described as having community access.
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6 Assessment and Analysis Summary – Main Pitch Sports
Football
6.1 In the last two decades the game of football has changed considerably with the development of mini soccer and the explosion of the female and disability versions of the game. The game is currently looking at further developments including a 9v9 version of the game to improve the experience and transition for players from mini soccer to 11v11; this in turn poses a number of challenges around facility provision for the game.
6.2 In addition technology for all weather facilities has moved on significantly and the advent of the 3rd generation all weather facility provides not only a training base but alternative match day venue, the FA is working with leagues and clubs and local authorities to educate them as to the benefits of these facilities. Multi pitch venues key to the success of the delivery and growth of the game.
Local clubs
6.3 There are 184 local football clubs generating 520 teams in total. These teams play in a number of different leagues predominantly across the weekend. Any Further Education teams affiliated to the FA are included in this list.
School demand and team equivalents
6.4 There are over 172 schools (134 Primary, 22 Secondary, 2 Special, and 14 Independent) in Shropshire, impacting on both supply and demand. An assumption has been made about the level of PE use and the team equivalents. This is estimated to generate in the region of 344 team equivalents or 172 games per week.
Supply
6.5 A total of 348 football pitches have been identified, of which 255 (around 73.3%) are judged to have regular community use.
Table 6.1 - Summary of Community Use Pitch Supply Shropshire North Sub Area Central Sub Area South Sub Area Pitch Type (total supply in (Map 10) (Map 11) (Map 12) brackets) Mini 44 (71) Map 2 12 (16) 16 (35) 16 (20) Youth (Youth) 70 (103) Map 3 24 (29) 19 (35) 27 (39) Senior 141 (174) Map 4 47 (59) 59 (62) 35 (53) TOTAL 255 (348) 80 (104) 97 (132) 78 (112)
Assessment
6.6 A summary of the application of the eight stage model assessment for football is provided in the figures overleaf. Figures show the results of the current and future modelling (10 years’ time). Figures represent the surplus or deficiency in pitches required to meet demand, when modelled across Shropshire, and when considered on a sub area basis.
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Quantity of pitches
6.7 A separate playing pitch model (PPM) has been used for each sub area (Appendix 4). This is to ensure that any differences in peak demand periods across mini, youth and senior football in the three sub areas is accounted for in the analysis. In the case of football in Shropshire, the peak day for all forms of the game except senior football (North sub area), and mini and youth football (Central sub area) is Sunday.
6.8 However, the level of demand (in terms of how much of the demand falls on these days) does vary from area to area. For example, although the majority of peak demand for youth football is on a Sunday, the amount of demand varies from 44% of all demand in the North sub area to 55% in the South sub area. The majority of demand for all football is on a Sunday, with the exception of senior football in the North, and youth and mini football in the South sub areas (Saturday pm).
6.9 Map 16 shows the distribution of all mini football sites across the three sub areas. This map clearly shows the cluster of mini football provision around Shrewsbury, and the higher level of mini pitch provision around this main urban area. There are a higher number of mini pitches in community use in both the North and South sub areas.
6.10 The location of mini pitches in the North and South sub areas relate to market towns and larger rural communities/village clusters. Only residents in the far south of the South sub area (very small rural settlements), where Shropshire borders Worcestershire, do not have access to a mini pitch within 20 minutes drivetime (6.67 miles) in Shropshire.
6.11 Map 17 shows the same information for youth pitches. The pattern of pitch distribution reflects that of mini football pitches, with a high level of pitches in and around the main urban settlement of Shrewsbury. Higher numbers of community use pitches are located in the North and South sub areas; pitches in the more rural areas are located in market towns or larger village settlements. There are small areas of rural settlements which do not have access to a youth football pitch within 20 minutes drivetime (6.67 miles), as shown on Map 17.
6.12 Map 18 illustrates the location of all senior pitches across Shropshire by sub area. There are significantly more senior pitches in the Central sub area than in the South sub area. The location of senior pitches in the North and South sub areas relate to market towns and larger rural communities/village clusters. This map also illustrates that all residents of Shropshire are within 20 minutes drive (6.67 miles) of a senior pitch in community use.
Quality of pitches
6.13 Quality assessment results are included in Appendix 1, and Maps 13, 14 and 15 on a sub area basis, as part of the supply audit. Figures indicate the percentage of pitches within each sub area (and across Shropshire as a whole) that were rated as at least ‘good’. These relate to community accessible pitches only. It is interesting that the Central sub area is rated second overall in terms of football pitch quality, given the high quality of pitches at the Shrewsbury Sports Village and at the Roman Road site. This may be a result of the time of year pitches were audited, or the fact that not every team responded to consultation.
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Table 6.2 - Assessment Results - Pitch Quantity and Quality - Football: COMMUNITY TEAMS ONLY
FOOTBALL ASSESSMENT Results SHROPSHIRE NORTH SUB AREA CENTRAL SUB AREA SOUTH SUB AREA
Mini Soccer +16 +3.4 +6 +3 CURRENT ASSESSMENT Surplus / deficiency in Youth Football +28 +9.5 0 +7.6 pitches Senior Football +105 +34.5 +30.6 +24
Mini Soccer +9 +1.4 +2.8 +0.2 FUTURE ASSESSMENT Surplus / deficiency in Youth Football +15 +5.5 -6.4 +3.5 pitches Senior Football +100 +32.9 +28.6 +23
Mini Soccer 18% (8 pitches) 33% (4 pitches) 25% (4 pitches) 0 QUALITY ASSESSMENT % of pitches rated as ‘good’ or ‘excellent’ (of all Youth Football 22.8% (16 pitches) 20.8% (5 pitches) 21.5% (4pitches) 25.9% (7pitches) Community Use pitches) Senior Football 40.4% (57 pitches) 51%(24pitches) 35.6% ( 21 pitches) 34.3% (12 pitches) N.B Green = surplus based on PPM; red = deficiency based on PPM; orange = sufficiency based on PPM, but does not allow for any game rotation, pitch resting/maintenance
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Factoring in other demand
6.14 The identified surpluses in football pitches are reduced when non-community demand i.e. schools’ use is factored in. Although the school use of pitches is confined to ‘off-peak’ periods, the demand generated does add to the overall use of pitches. This is demonstrated in the Figure below where an indication is provided of the total number of potential games each week versus the number of pitches in the area. For the basis of the calculations an estimation has been made for all schools and pitches in the area, including those not in community use.
Table 6.3 - Football - Impact of school demand /use of football pitches Actual Estimated Games Pitches Estimated games per pitch (number Available All Pitches of football per of community (with Available Pitch Site week (school teams plus school Community (senior/yo plus community) games per week x Use uth/mini) 0.5) (senior/yout h/mini) North Sub Area 57 games 1.3 games 80 104 Central Sub Area 58 games 1.3 games 97 132 South Sub Area 57 games 1.3 games 78 112 Indicative average for 172 games 1.3 games 255 348 Shropshire
Latent demand
6.15 In addition there are some indicators of latent or suppressed demand across Shropshire eg potential growth youth participation in Shrewsbury is restricted due to lack of youth pitches (feedback from SAHA Football Club, who is the only main youth football club in Shrewsbury without their own ‘home’ pitches . Although a comparison of TGRs for Shropshire with national averages suggests very high levels of demand (mini, youth boys and girls), there are some areas of Shropshire eg the North sub area (mini, boys and senior male and female), and the Central sub area (girls’ football) where TGRs are significantly lower.
6.16 If football development work were to be focused on these areas and TGRs were increased to mirror the Shropshire average, then the current mini (which are marginal in the North and Central sub areas), and youth pitch surpluses (which are marginal in the North, and non existent in the Central area) would worsen considerably.
6.17 Some clubs have also identified potential issues relating to latent or suppressed demand. Over a third of the clubs (39.5%) responding to the survey question on key issues identified ‘lack of appropriate facilities’ as a concern. Of these clubs, 23.7% also have plans to grow their membership which arguably will not be possible unless access to pitch facilities, and particularly youth and mini pitches, is improved. The significant surplus of senior football pitches across Shropshire does offer the potential to accommodate increased demand for pitches, by retaining existing sites and re-designating senior pitches as youth and mini pitches.
6.18 Offset against this is feedback from league secretaries. Not all leagues with a stake in Shropshire- based football responded to the consultation. However, it is clear from the consultation completed that some leagues have experienced considerable decline in their numbers, some have remained static in terms of overall numbers (some teams fold, some new teams join) while others have seen an increase.
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6.19 The key conclusion is that there are pockets of latent demand across Shropshire. Some of this is attributable to low demand (as measured by TGRs) in identified sub areas and some is resulting from key local clubs’ development plans being stifled. For example, 15 clubs across Shropshire, from all sub areas report plans to grow membership but expressed concern about achieving this due to insufficient appropriate facilities being available.
6.20 The population growth already seen in the North sub area, plus that predicted in the Central sub area over the next 10 years will exacerbate this issue for individual clubs. The critical point is that there is actually sufficient pitch provision in Shropshire to meet current, future and latent demand; the issue current pitch designations do not meet current playing needs (too many senior pitches in relation to demand, but only just sufficient youth and mini pitches).
Club and league secretary views
6.21 Pitch ratings and feedback from football clubs appear to endorse the results of the quality audit completed. Across Shropshire only 42% of all pitches are rated as good or excellent using the non- technical visual assessment; equally, 50% of clubs rate pitches they use positively (in reality this relates to 19 pitches (Meole Brace Youth School, Park Hall Grounds, Pontesbury Sports Association, SBS Stadium, and the Burwayas Excellent (8), and Bomere Heath, Cross Bank, Greenfields Oswestry School, Shrewsbury College, Shrewsbury Sports Village, Spiningfield, Sundorne Youth Centre, and Tetley Bank) as Good (11). This is important as it effectively provides both an independent objective view point and a user perspective with similar conclusions. Some pitches rated positively by clubs are in non-council ownership and are served by changing room facilities. Conversely, a large proportion of negative ratings were attributed to council owned and managed facilities.
6.22 Club views on quality were generally backed up by feedback from local league secretaries, who generally agreed that quality was lacking. In many cases this is attributable to the overall site facilities, and specifically a lack of changing room accommodation.
6.23 Overall there is a perception, in relation to Council provision that hire costs increase year on year, but the quality of pitches and ancillary facilities does not.
Impact of quality on capacity
6.24 If pitches are particularly poor then they may not be able to accommodate the number of games required to meet demand and this could increase any deficiency recorded or reduce surpluses. The results of the quality inspections have therefore, in line with guidance detailed in Toward a Level Playing Field been used to show how quality might affect capacity.
6.25 The analysis completed suggests that around 27.7% (91 pitches) of all pitches currently available could, given the high quality of some of them, accommodate up to 3 games per week. If the overall theoretical capacity of pitches (based purely on their quality rating) is considered alongside the assessment results, then the following observations can be made:
The capacity of pitches across the stock currently available for community use is theoretically limited by some average and below average pitches 39% (63 pitches). This is particularly acute in the South area, which has high levels of demand for all pitch types (second highest number of teams across Shropshire) and the lowest number of Good/Excellent Mini and Senior pitches.
Given that there is a current and future surplus of senior pitches across Shropshire (although less significant in the South sub area), and more than 50% of these pitches are poor quality, this means that some pitches surplus to current and future requirements are also poor quality.
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The poor quality of provision impacts in three ways: i) it means that there are limitations on which pitches can be used/rested/rotated season to season ii) maintenance costs are higher for poor quality pitches and lower levels of usage mean they do not return their maximum level of revenue iii) usage of poor quality senior pitches for youth football in particular is limited
Ancillary Facilities
6.26 In terms of sites accommodating football pitches, only 154 sites with football pitches across Shropshire are served by changing rooms. This overall picture worsens when considering actual pitch numbers with community use - only 71.4% (110) of all community use pitches are served by changing rooms. Clubs also report significant issues in relation to access to changing rooms. Over a third of the clubs responding to the survey (36.8%) report access to no changing facilities, or use of provision they rate as only ‘average’ or ‘poor’.
Pitch Access
6.27 Access has been considered from a number of perspectives. Specifically, access to affordable facilities (i.e. cost of hire) and geographical access (i.e. proximity to quality facilities and average travel distances). Access has also been considered from a demand perspective, taking account of the capacity for new members at the clubs as identified through their survey responses. The assessment highlights that:
44.7% of clubs identify ‘internal funding’ as a key issue – that is many experience issues with running costs and balancing money in via subs etc with expenditure, including pitch hire charges
The hire fees and charges that clubs pay vary significantly. These range from as little as £10 per match to clubs paying £50 for each game. Many clubs pay seasonal fees and block book facilities. This is on the basis of limited information received from clubs, so in reality variances could be more exaggerated
81.6% of clubs report capacity for new members suggesting that opportunities exist to play football – however, 50% of these do not estimate any growth and many (as reported earlier) raise issues with access to appropriate facilities
6.28 The average (mean) acceptable distance for participants to travel to access facilities reported by clubs is around 2.9 miles. However, more clubs travel further than 2.9 miles rather than less given the geography of Shropshire. The mean figure is likely to be skewed by i) the number of club responses and ii) the impact of a significant number of large youth clubs being based in and around Shrewsbury. This suggests, that teams are willing (or in some cases forced) to travel significant distances to access appropriate facilities. This is reinforced by responses to questions on future priorities. Over a third of clubs (42%) prioritise access to high quality facilities that involve more travel than lower quality facilities from within the proximity of where they draw their membership. Put simply, a significant number of clubs prioritise quality over location.
Other issues and challenges
6.29 The collection of raw data and application of the PPM overlooks a number of key characteristics of supply and demand that need to be highlighted and considered within the assessment conclusions. These include:
A relatively high number of multi-pitch sites without changing facilities – these include a number of the Council’s sites. Capacity, quality and usability would all be greatly enhanced with ancillary facilities. The introduction of ancillary facilities on a relatively small number of sites would increase significantly the percentage of pitches served by changing rooms www.scottwilson.com www.strategicleisure.co.uk 29 Shropshire Council Playing Pitch Strategy 2010 - 2020
There is potentially a ‘gap’ in football facilities if viewing provision from the perspective of a tiered hierarchy of facilities, and the ability to provide a participation pathway at different levels. Although there are a number of large town-based football clubs, none are in the football league. Shrewsbury Town FC however has a new stadium and plays in the Nationwide League.
Draft of assessment findings: Football
The headlines:
1. The modelling results show that there is currently surplus provision (in terms of quantity) across Shropshire. This is significant in relation to senior pitches generally, although surpluses are less in the South sub area. Although surplus provision is also identified for youth (except in the Central area), and mini pitches, these are in reality marginal, and would reduce if educational use/resting/rotation of pitches was taken into account.
2. The surpluses are compounded in some cases by a heavy bias towards Sunday football. Peak demand for Mini Soccer, youth and senior football is on a Sunday (except in the North sub area for senior football (Saturday pm), and in the Central sub area for youth (Saturday am) and mini football (Saturday pm)) across the three sub areas.
3. In relation to future demand surpluses remain, although reduced. The exception is in relation to youth football in the Central area where there is a deficit in supply against demand. The current and future surplus of senior football pitches is more than sufficient to accommodate increased demand for youth and mini football, and the latent demand identified. This approach would mean remarking least some existing sites in each sub area to reflect the nature of actual football pitch demand.
4. There are quality deficiencies – significantly less than half the pitches are rated as ‘good’ or better. Quality is particularly poor in the South sub area where only 4 pitches are of a good standard. Only half of the clubs responding to consultation rate their facilities positively. Poor quality pitch provision has potential implications for capacity. In addition, 36.8% of clubs rate ancillary facilities as poor quality.
5. Clubs are willing to travel considerable distances to access quality facilities – this is a clear indicator that there are deficiencies (quality and quantity) locally, and is also reflective of the geography of Shropshire. Clubs are also paying a variety of different hire charge for facilities. The priority for over 1/3 clubs is better quality facilities rather than those close to where their players reside.
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Cricket
Local clubs
6.30 In summary there are 51 local ‘clubs’ generating in the region of 191 teams in total. Not all the clubs are formal clubs running a number of teams. For the purpose of the assessment we have included single teams that play in the Shropshire Cricket League (SCL) and other local leagues as clubs. Cricket teams play in a number of different leagues across the week but predominantly across the weekend.
School demand and team equivalents
6.31 The exact number of schools playing formal cricket is not known. However, it is estimated by Shropshire County Cricket board that there are in the region of 25-35 schools playing, generating up to 110 teams. It has not been possible to apportion these to specific constituency areas, but they have been factored into the analysis completed. In addition to school demand, an allowance has been made for demand generated by development squads, and a number of friendly pub teams.
Supply
6.32 A total of 73 cricket pitches have been identified, with 55 (around 75%) identified available for community use. A number of additional ‘potential’ community facilities were identified, predominantly pitches on school sites, and across some previously used public sites. Some investment would be needed at these venues suitable for community cricket.
Summary of Community Use Pitch Supply
Table 6.4 – Summary of Community Use Supply Shropshire (total North Sub Area Central Sub Area (Map South Sub Area supply in brackets) (Map 10) 11) (Map 12) (Map 6)
55 (73) 18 16 21
6.33 The main issue with existing cricket pitch supply is that there is higher demand i.e. in the North and South sub areas which is not adequately addressed through the level of pitch supply.
Assessment
Quantity of pitches
6.34 A separate playing pitch model (PPM) has been used for each constituency area. This is to ensure that any differences in peak demand periods across mini, youth and senior football is accounted for within the 3 sub areas. The levels of peak demand for cricket pitches (in terms of how much of the demand falls on these days) are the same across Shropshire i.e. peak demand for all cricket is Saturday pm.
6.35 Map 6 shows how locations of cricket pitches, and particularly those with community use, relate to the main urban area of Shrewsbury and in the rural areas the market towns and larger village clusters. Overall there are more cricket pitches with community use than without across Shropshire.
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6.36 Map 20 illustrates that all residents in Shropshire are within 20 minutes drivetime (6.67 miles) of a cricket pitch, (and in the case of cricket this is more likely to be one in community use), except a very few small rural settlements in the far south and south west of the South sub area. Given the proximity of the Shropshire boundary these residents may have access to a pitch just outside the county. In addition cricket clubs stated that players travel up to 12.5 miles to participate in cricket so the illustrated catchment area is reflecting a worse case scenario.
Quality of pitches
6.37 Quality assessment results are also included in Table 6.3, Appendix 1, and Maps 13, 14 and 15. Figures indicate the percentage of pitches within each sub area (and across Shropshire as a whole) that were rated as at least ‘good’. These relate to community accessible pitches only.
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Table 6.5 - Assessment Results – Cricket: COMMUNITY TEAMS ONLY NORTH SUB CENTRAL SUB SOUTH SUB Model Stage Results SHROPSHIRE AREA AREA AREA
CURRENT ASSESSMENT All cricket +7.3 +1.4 +4.5 +0.3 Surplus / deficiency in pitches
FUTURE ASSESSMENT All cricket +2.9 -0.3 +3.8 -1.2 Surplus / deficiency in pitches
QUALITY ASSESSMENT 68.7% (11 Cricket Pitches 52.7% (29 pitches) 50% (9 pitches) 42.8% (9 pitches) %of pitches rated as ‘good’ or ‘excellent’ pitches)
Total of home games per week per each area, if totalled is larger than Shropshire figure – this is due to rounding up
Factoring in other demand
6.38 The deficiencies shown within the assessment results need to be viewed in light of other potential demand. Nomadic pub teams have been included in the supply and demand assessment summarised in the figure above. These have been included as half team equivalents in the figures above given that they potentially do not play games at the same time within the season, and in many cases will organise fixtures between themselves on an ad hoc basis rather than weekly.
6.39 As reported earlier, an attempt has been made to place a nominal figure on schools’ demand for cricket pitches. This is difficult to quantify and apportion to specific areas of Shropshire. An attempt is made to quantify this in the table below:
Table 6.6 - Estimation of additional cricket demand Type of demand Estimation of level
Assumed that all schools (estimated at 100) with cricket facilities will generate at least one match per week (2 team equivalents) – amounts to approximately 100 games per week Schools demand Assumed that the 80 schools playing cricket generate 1 team – equivalent of around 40 games per week (assumed cricket pitches are on secondary school sites)
6.40 In total 62 pitches have been identified (includes those without community use). These in theory accommodate 135.5 (total of home games per week across Shropshire plus school games) games every week. Each pitch is therefore accommodating in the region of 2.2 games (total games divided by total number of pitches) per week (the equivalent of 4.4 teams). The quality of facilities is therefore key to sustaining this level of use. www.scottwilson.com www.strategicleisure.co.uk 33 Shropshire Council Playing Pitch Strategy 2010 - 2020
Latent demand
6.41 In addition there are a number of indications that latent demand exists across Shropshire. Supporting this, a large number of clubs consulted identify a desire to grow but no capacity for any new members they cannot develop additional teams because there is a lack of pitches to accommodate additional fixtures, and some leagues do not have capacity for more teams.
6.42 In addition to this, feedback from clubs also suggests there is some suppressed demand. Many clubs report ‘lack of appropriate facilities’ as a key issue for them. All of these clubs have plans to recruit more members. Three of the affiliated respondent clubs also report issues with lack of facilities; this response is found in all three sub areas of Shropshire. The consultation has also highlighted some local issues with facility share arrangements and stifled demand at certain sites.
6.43 The review of TGRs reported earlier also suggests that demand for cricket is equivalent to the national average.
6.44 On the basis of the assessment and additional evidence collected, it is clear that current quantity of cricket pitches is at best adequate, but in reality is at capacity and demonstrates little capacity for increased participation, and into the future, an inability to meet demand.
Club views
6.45 Cricket clubs were also asked to rate the quality of the pitches they use. The majority of respondent clubs rated their facilities as ‘excellent’ or ‘good (pitches and ancillary facilities)’; a significant number of such facilities are private clubs, owned and managed by the club.
Impact of quality on capacity
6.46 If pitches are particularly poor then they may not be able to accommodate the number of games required to meet demand and this could increase any deficiency recorded or reduce surpluses. The analysis completed suggests that around 52.7% of pitches currently available could, given the high quality of some of them, accommodate up to 3 games per week. If the overall theoretical capacity of pitches (based purely on their quality rating) is considered alongside the assessment results, then the following observations can be made:
The capacity of pitches across the stock currently available for community use is theoretically limited, but not significantly, by some average and below average pitches (12 in total). It is estimated that potential capacity equates to 31.2 games per week.
This equates to a capacity of around 2.6 games per week (based on 31.2 games across 12 pitches). Improving these pitches, which are already in community use, would more than address identified future demand, and ensure pitch supply is located where demand is highest.
Ancillary Facilities
6.47 In terms of sites accommodating cricket pitches, 52 (82.5%) of the 63 sites with cricket pitches across Shropshire are served by changing rooms. This overall picture looks slightly worse in relation to cricket pitches with community use, where 43 (78.2%) are served by changing rooms. Despite the fact that over ¾ of cricket pitches are served by changing rooms clubs report some quality issues with provision. Some clubs responding to the survey report access to no changing facilities, or use of provision they rate as ‘average’ or ‘poor’ (32 such facilities identified in relation to cricket pitches with community use). As with pitch quality ratings, clubs with their own facilities rate ancillary facilities more positively.
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Pitch Access
6.48 As with the football assessment, access has been considered from a number of perspectives. The findings include:
37.5% of clubs responding to written surveys identify ‘internal funding’ as a key issue – that is many experience issues with running costs and balancing money in via subs etc with expenditure, including pitch hire charges.
Information on the hire charges that clubs pay is limited. Many cricket clubs own or lease their own ground, so hire/match fees are not relevant.
All clubs responding to the written consultation survey have capacity for new members. As reported earlier, this is more than other sports and an indication that cricket participation could grow further. Future demand for cricket pitches is projected to increase, reflecting growth in both current and new clubs/teams, but there will need to be access to additional pitches to address this growth.
A number of clubs identify facility needs to accommodate further growth eg developing multi- pitch sites and a need to refurbish changing rooms to meet the demands of additional teams, age group and gender specific sport.
6.49 The clubs consulted did not present an overall consensus on acceptable travel distances, or whether close proximity of facilities to local catchments was more important than high quality facilities. Acceptable distances for the majority of club members to travel to local facilities ranged from 5 miles through to 30 miles. This is potentially affected by the level of league play teams are engaged in, and the overarching vision for the club (i.e. playing at a high level, providing participatory opportunities for the local community, or both).
6.50 The average (mean) acceptable distance for participants to travel to access facilities reported by clubs is significant, at around 12.5 miles and many clubs report travelling at least this. This situation reflects the rural nature of much of Shropshire. Around 50% of clubs responding to written consultation prioritise access to high quality facilities that involve more travel than lower quality facilities within the proximity of where they draw their membership from. Put simply, a significant number of clubs prioritise quality over location.
Other issues and challenges
6.51 The collection of raw data and application of the PPM overlooks a number of key characteristics of supply and demand that need to be highlighted and considered within the assessment conclusions. These include:
Cost of hire of private facilities – there may be capacity at some clubs with their own grounds who only run a limited number of teams that could be used by other clubs. However, the costs of using club-owned grounds may be prohibitive
School facilities with community use may not always be open or accessible during school holidays, a peak time for the cricket season – they may therefore not provide the most ideal solution for increasing supply. The audit also identified a number of cricket pitches on school sites which have converted natural wickets to artificial surfaces. This potentially meets the school’s own needs but does not meet the standards of local leagues.
Around a quarter of cricket pitches overall without changing facilities – these include a number of the Council’s sites. Capacity, quality and usability would all be greatly enhanced with ancillary facilities. The introduction of ancillary facilities on a relatively small number of sites would potentially increase significantly the percentage of pitches served by changing rooms.
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Some clubs eg Wem Cricket Club, Forton Cricket Club and Shrewsbury Cricket Club are developing proposals to increase the scale of their provision.
Draft of assessment findings: Cricket
The headlines:
1. On the basis of the assessment and additional evidence collected, it is clear that current quantity of cricket pitches is at best adequate, but in reality is at capacity and showing clear signs of an inability to meet demand eg South sub area. Existing levels of deficiency in cricket pitches increase in relation to future demand growth; both the North and South sub areas demonstrate a deficit of pitches in relation to future demand, and the Central sub area has only a small surplus currently and into the future.
2. Quality is deficient at just under 50% sites across Shropshire (based on ‘good’ rating). Pitch quality also varies significantly across the three sub areas; pitches in the Central sub area are of significantly higher quality than those in the North and particularly the South sub areas. TGRs in the South sub area are particularly high.
Although over 75% of community use cricket pitches are served by changing rooms, there are some issues of quality (32 rate average or below). Club-owned facilities tend to be higher quality.
3. The cricket infrastructure is viewed to be at capacity – although all clubs report theoretical capacity for new members, and an aspiration to grow, a lack of facilities is likely to impact on this. Current pitch sharing arrangements may actually be masking a higher level of demand for facilities.
4. Cricket teams, particularly those not part of clubs with their own facilities are travelling considerable distances to play cricket. Further opportunities for pitch sharing, where facilities are of appropriate quality may be a way forward to address this issue.
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Rugby Union
Local clubs
6.52 In summary there are 10 local ‘clubs’ generating in the region of 103 teams in total. Team numbers generated by each club vary significantly from two team clubs eg Cleehill RFC to those with in excess of 20 teams EG Shrewsbury RFC 23 teams (Bridgnorth RFC and Oswestry RFC have 20 teasm each). These teams play in a number of different leagues across the week but predominantly across the weekend.
School demand and team equivalents
6.53 Estimates have been made for demand created by schools based on schools playing rugby as recorded by the RFU. Exact team information for all schools is not available so some assumptions have been made. In addition to school demand, an allowance has been made for demand generated by through training use, particularly for those clubs with floodlit pitches which accommodate both training and match use.
Pitch Supply
6.54 A total of 69 rugby pitches have been identified, although not all are suitable or available for community use. Of these pitches, 45 (around 65%) are available for community use.
Table 6.7 – Summary of Community Use Supply Shropshire (total North Sub Area Central Sub Area (Map South Sub Area supply in brackets) (Map 10) 11) (Map 12) (Map 5)
45 (69) 15 (21) 10 (16) 20 (32)
Assessment results
6.55 Map 5 illustrates the location of all rugby pitches across Shropshire by sub area; the locations of rugby pitches relate to the main urban area of Shrewsbury, market towns and in the more rural areas in the North and South sub areas, larger village clusters. There are more pitches with community use than without.
6.56 Map 20 shows that in terms of accessibility there are three sparsely populated areas without access to a rugby pitch within 20 minutes drivetime (6.67 miles). These areas are the extreme south of the South sub area, and to the far west and south east of Shrewsbury. In reality, given that rugby clubs highlighted that they travel up to 15 miles to a pitch, accessibility is not seen as a major issue for existing participants; however accessibility and travel distance may be perceived as a barrier to participation by current non-participants, particularly young players without their own transport.
6.57 A summary of the assessment results are provided overleaf. As with football and area based assessments for other sports, the temporal demand pattern (and peak demand period) for each area locally has been used). Specifically, in relation to Rugby the supply and demand assessment has used the Playing Pitch Model as a basis to model 5 different scenarios (as issued by the RFU). As with other sports the assessment summary illustrates both quantity and quality results.
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Table 6.8 - Assessment Results – Rugby Union: COMMUNITY TEAMS ONLY
Model Stage Results SHROPSHIRE NORTH SUB AREA CENTRAL SUB AREA SOUTH SUB AREA
CURRENT ASSESSMENT All Rugby +17 +1.5 -1 +8.1 Surplus / deficiency in pitches
FUTURE ASSESSMENT All Rugby +12 -0.3 -2 +6.5 Surplus / deficiency in pitches
QUALITY ASSESSMENT 22.9% (11 Rugby Pitches 40% (4 pitches) 33.3% (4 pitches) 17.4% (4 pitches) %of pitches rated as ‘good’ or ‘excellent’ pitches)
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Scenario1 – All demand and All Supply
6.58 The audit has identified a total of 62 (48 with community use) pitches in the Figure 6.5 above. Total demand generated by clubs and schools is estimated to be equivalent to 133 (103 community teams and 30 schools (secondary and independent)) senior team equivalents. Factoring in this demand the overall average number of games per week increases to 66.5 (community teams – 53 games). While most of this is accommodated during the week, additional wear and tear is placed on the available supply.
6.59 The analysis completed indicates that even including additional demand generated by school teams, current pitch provision is on the whole sufficient to cater for demand except in the Central sub area. However, the capacity of pitches is critical in meeting this demand, given that the current surplus in the North is marginal, and that in the South is not much greater. Generally across Shropshire pitches need to cater for 2 or more games per week to service demand. This relies on pitches being of adequate quality to accommodate this. In the South sub area pitch quality is significantly poorer than in the North and Central sub areas; this factor impacts on the capacity of the overall pitch stock which could increase if pitch quality were improved.
6.60 As Rugby Union is a club based sport, the remaking and re-designation of school pitches in practice bears little relevance to the sustainability of the sport due to its club focus. A pitch 3 miles away that has been remarked, but has no ancillary facilities will not provide any real solutions. The real solutions are around the delivery of either improved quality on existing sites or new pitches adjacent to, or on, existing sites. Alternatively a complete relocation is a realistic solution, providing an appropriate site can be identified.
Scenario 2 – Matches and Training Capacity
6.61 This scenario takes account of all the floodlit pitches in use and includes training demands on these where applicable. This increases the overall demand for pitches to the equivalent of 163 games per week including the demand identified in Scenario 1.Training use of pitches, based on the estimates provided increases demand by around 30 games per week (based on training usage of floodlit pitches by all clubs for a minimum of 3 teams per week)
6.62 Across the whole stock of pitches this increases the number of games per pitch to 3.8 games overall. This figure is much higher in the sub areas of high demand ie the North and Central areas which also have large clubs to accommodate. As with Scenario 1, the additional use of pitches (much of which is midweek) when factored in has little impact on the peak demand for pitches for club rugby over the weekend. However, it does increase the use of pitches overall in terms of the number of games to be accommodated. Analysis completed indicates an increase in the required capacity of pitches across the 3 sub areas to meet demand (in the South sub area, ‘good’ quality pitches are used more frequently. This is unlikely to be a long term sustainable situation even where pitches are of exceptional quality
Scenario 3 – All demand and Accessible Supply Only
6.63 This scenario takes account of the pitches in community use only (as summarised in the overall modelling) and the demand as identified in Scenario 2 above. In effect this scenario provides the ‘worst case’ scenario, by including all demand generated by community teams and team equivalents generated from training and school demand, and assessing this against available supply only.
6.64 Using just the accessible supply assessed against demand, there are a number of changes to surplus and deficiencies and the theoretical level of use that pitches have to accommodate. There is a current deficiency in the Central sub area, and a deficit of rugby pitches to meet future demand in the Central and North sub areas. Adding the additional pitch requirements for training, and school use increases both identified current and future deficits in rugby pitch supply. It would also mean that there is deficit in current and future provision across Shropshire, even if all available pitches were used to train, play matches and accommodate school use. This situation is emphasised by the fact that some Shropshire rugby players currently travel out of the area to play eg players from the former South Shropshire district travel out of Shropshire to play at Luctonians at all age levels.
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Scenario 4 – Pitch quality and capacity
6.65 The results of the quantitative assessment need to be considered alongside quality issues, as quality will affect the capacity of pitches to accommodate games. The quality audit suggests the quality of community use rugby pitches is generally poor (only 22.9% are rated as good across Shropshire). The poor quality of rugby pitches in the South sub area impacts on the overall capacity in that area. In addition, in the South sub area the issue of flood risk needs to be considered in relation to both Bridgnorth and Ludlow Rugby Clubs.
6.66 Club pitches vary in terms of quality overall, but may appear to be of a better quality because the presence of changing rooms at most sites boosts scores by 15%. In the case of 28 pitches (predominantly in the South sub area), the ratings suggest they are on the ‘boundary’ between ‘average’ and ‘poor’.
6.67 The analysis completed suggests that of the 62 pitches currently available only the 11 (22.9%) rated as good have the potential to accommodate 2 games per week i.e. a total of 22 matches. The ‘good’ scores for rugby pitches in Shropshire are high and some nearly ‘excellent’. Less than 255 of all pitches in community use are supporting very heavy match use, because other available pitches are of poor quality. If any ‘good’ pitches were taken out of use there would be an impact on capacity to meet demand for rugby pitches, and particularly if ‘good’ pitches were lost in the Central and/or North sub areas.
Scenario 5 – Localised issues
6.68 It is recognised that because rugby is focussed around key club sites, it is important to identify localised supply and demand issues relating to these. The audit has identified potentially ‘spare’ pitches in relation to those that do not currently accommodate community use. However, these are not of value to clubs if they are in the wrong away or ideally part of the club set up. The following issues and challenges are highlighted:
Shrewsbury RFC would like to expand further and has the capability to do so but not the capacity, given the lack of pitches to meet current demand
Oswestry RFC needs support and external assistance to improve the pitch facilities atb their club
Clee Hill RFC have developed their pitch facilities but need to increase the capacity of their changing provision
There is a surplus of pitches in the South sub area despite 6 teams playing in this area; this surplus capacity may reflect the poor quality of many of the pitches 71.4% (15 of 21) in this sub area. Poor quality pitches include: Severn Park, Bishops’s Castle RFC, Bridgnorth RFC, Highley RFC, Church Stretton Playing Fields, Ludlow RFC, Clee Hill RFC, Sparc Centre, Ludlow College,
Views of clubs
6.69 Local clubs were also asked to rate the quality of the pitches they use. The club ratings reflect similar perceptions of quality as those measured by the visual assessments. Only 22.9% of pitches were rated positively by the non-technical inspection; only half of clubs (50%) rate the facilities they use positively.
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Pitch Access
6.70 As with the football assessment, access has been considered from a number of perspectives. The findings include:
Fewer than 25% of clubs identify ‘internal funding’ as a key issue – this is significantly less than within other sports and indicates that clubs are well run and managed
20% of clubs have capacity for new members, however 80% identify aspirations to grow club membership and participation EG Shrewsbury RFC. This emphasises the importance of access to appropriate facilities to accommodate growth.
Over half of clubs identify facility needs to accommodate further growth – Bridgnorth, Oswestry, Bishop’s Castle RFC and Clee Hill RFC have significant projections of growth but are constrained by a lack of facilities.
6.71 The clubs consulted did not present an overall consensus on acceptable travel distances, or whether close proximity of facilities to local catchments was more important than high quality facilities. Acceptable distances for the majority of club members to travel to local facilities ranged from 2 miles through to 15 miles. This is potentially affected by the level of league play teams are engaged in, and the overarching vision for the club (i.e. playing at a high level, providing participatory opportunities for the local community, or both).
6.72 The average (mean) acceptable distance for participants to travel to access facilities reported by clubs is significant, at around 7.8 miles. 20% of the clubs prioritise access to high quality facilities that involve more travel than lower quality facilities within the proximity of where they draw their membership from. This reflects that playing on quality pitches is more important than where the pitches are located.
Other issues and challenges
6.73 The collection of raw data and application of the PPM overlooks a number of key characteristics of supply and demand that need to be highlighted and considered within the assessment conclusions. These include:
There is some extensive use of some of the rugby facilities currently available, and particularly the ‘good’ quality facilities, which are distributed across all three sub areas.
Rugby Clubs are seen as key venues for the development of other sports – e.g. rounders. Adequate facilities are therefore needed not only to support rugby but to facilitate the potential development of other sports in Shropshire
There are a 14 pitches without community use across Shropshire that are also used for rugby; some of these are private clubs and some school sites but there is potential to develop community use of these sites to address current and future deficits in provision.
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Draft of assessment findings: Rugby
The headlines:
1. There are currently sufficient numbers of rugby pitches across Shropshire, except in the Central area. The identified surplus of rugby pitches currently in the North sub area is only marginal. Deficiency of rugby pitch provision is evident in relation to future growth in participation, based on RFU figures in both the Central and North sub areas; the latter has the highest TGRs in Shropshire for rugby. Pitches need to be high quality and in the right place (in relation to clubs) to adequately service demand
2. Quality of rugby pitches is not good generally (around 80% of community use pitches across Shropshire are poor quality). The quality of rugby pitches is particularly poor in the South sub area. At least 50% of clubs report some quality related issue with the facilities they access.
3. The key issue for many rugby clubs is realising their aspirations to grow membership and participation, but balance this against access to appropriate and quality facilities.
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Hockey
Local clubs
6.74 The audit identified 9 community hockey clubs generating 51 teams in total. Clubs vary significantly in terms of their size and make up. Bridgnorth and Ludlow Hockey Clubs generate 10 teams each, whereas other clubs eg Wem, Market Drayton only generate 1 team.
Other demand and team equivalents
6.75 Other demand and team equivalents include potential school use, and training time required by clubs. Additionally some allowance has been made of the use of AGPs by schools. There is currently limited schools’ competitive hockey, although it is played in Independent schools. The two pitches at Lilleshall (water-based) are used by the England Hockey squad for training, as well as some club match use.
Supply
6.76 There are a total of 20 Artificial Turf Pitches (AGPs) in Shropshire (14 x sand-based, 2 x 3G, 2 synthetic, 2 x water-based). The majority of AGPs (13 pitches) are available for secured community use, but only 11 of these are suitable for hockey; of these 11 pitches, only 6 pitches are full size, sand based/water-based and have secured community use.
6.77 In the case of hockey the supply and demand modelling has been undertaken based on full size AGP pitches suitable for hockey ie sand-based, with secured community use. In addition to these pitches there are 5 full size AGPs, without secured community use which are also suitable for hockey; some of these facilities eg RAF Cosford and Shawbury are accessed by local hockey clubs).
6.78 There are 12 full sized hockey pitches in total, (2 x water-based, and 10 sand dressed/filled deemed suitable for hockey matches. There are 5 smaller pitches suitable for 7 aside hockey/hockey training.
6.79 Map 7 shows all sites with community use AGPs. Map 7 clearly highlights that provision of AGPs is focussed in the South area, unlike other pitch distributions. There are 4 secured community use hockey pitches in the South area, 1 in the North area and 2 in the Central area. However if the overall distribution of GPs is considered, it is clear that the majority of pitches are in the North sub area (8), with 7 in the South sub area and 5 in the Central area.
Table 6.9 -– AGPs: Number of pitches suitable for Hockey Use (in bold) Secured Sub Analysis Site Name Pitch Type No Pitches Community Area Use
Cleobury Mortimer Sports Centre (joint use with Lacon Sand-based 1 Not full size Y South Childs School)
1 Not full size; 3G (was sand- Grange Sports Centre (joint suitable for 5 based but being Y Central use with Grange School) aside football/7 re-laid) aside hockey
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Secured Sub Analysis Site Name Pitch Type No Pitches Community Area Use
1 Not full size; Monkmoor Recreation suitable for 5 Sand-based Y Central Ground aside football/7 aside hockey
Marches School Pitches & North Sand-based 1 N Technical College (Oswestry)
Roman Road Sports Centre (joint use with Meole Brace Sand-based 1 Y Central School Science College)
Whitchurch Sports and Leisure Centre (joint use North Sand-based 1 Y with Sir John Talbot (Whitchurch) School)
Shifnal Sports Centre (joint Synthetic 1 Not full size Y South use with Idsall School)
Lilleshall National Sports 2 x Water 2 Y South Centre based
3G not suitable Shrewsbury Sports Village 1 Y Central for hockey
Much Wenlock (joint use Sand-based, with William Brookes 1 Y South not floodlit School)
Bridgnorth Sports Centre (joint use with Bridgnorth Sand-based 1 Y South Endowed School)
1 suitable for 5 Ellesmere College Artificial surface aside football/7 N North aside hockey
Limited RAF Cosford Sand-based 1 Community South Use
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Secured Sub Analysis Site Name Pitch Type No Pitches Community Area Use
Limited RAF Shawbury Sand-based 1 Community North Use
Limited Shrewsbury School Sand-based 1 Community Central Use
Limited Packwood Haugh School Sand-based 1 Community North Use
Limited Moreton Hall School Sand-based 1 Community North Use
1 suitable for 5 Lakelands School, Sand-based aside football/7 Y North Ellesmere (Joint Use) aside hockey
1 suitable for 5 Prees Recreation Ground Sand-based aside football/7 Y North aside hockey
20 pitches 13 secured, (12 full size) but 2 are unsuitable for hockey); Total 5 limited community use; 2 no community use
6.80 Other facilities have been identified which are suitable for serving some training use (RAF Cosford 1 sand-based pitch, RAF Shawbury 1 sand-based pitch, but security presents an access issue. In addition there are 5 smaller pitches which could be used for hockey training and/or 7 aside hockey, but are unsuitable for senior competitive hockey games. There are also 16 grass hockey pitches in Shropshire, predominantly on school sites.
6.81 Based on the number of full size sand-based hockey pitches with secured community use, there are currently marginal surpluses of +1.2 AGPs in the South, and +0.9 in the Central sub areas. There is a significant deficit of -1.25 pitches in the North sub area which also has the highest TGRs for junior hockey. This deficit in the North increases to -1.7 in the future.
6.82 As with pitch supply, demand for hockey is not evenly distributed across Shropshire ie there is more demand in the North and South sub areas, but fewer AGPs in the North. The potential for a new AGP in Market Drayton had been considered prior to the suspension of BSF. The development of 1 new AGP in Market Drayton would address some of the projected 1.7 pitch deficit in future provision.
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6.83 Map 21 illustrates that there are some accessibility gaps in relation to existing AGPs for some Shropshire residents. Although this accessibility issue may be mitigated by the fact that hockey clubs have stated that players travel up to 10 miles to access a pitch, Map 20 highlights a significant area in the south of Shropshire, plus rural areas in the north, west and south east of the county, where there is no access to a AGP within 20 minutes drivetime.
6.84 The areas without 20 minute drivetime access are predominantly comprised of small rural settlements and market towns; the later is where TGRs are high in the North and South for hockey and yet there is less provision than in the main urban area of Shrewsbury, where there is a cluster of AGPs in the same area, and a surplus of pitches against demand.
6.85 There are a number of other AGPs located just outside the Shropshire boundary that clubs also use eg Kidderminster, Telford. A number of clubs do not their own home venue eg EWem hockey club, and are reliant on using eg RAF pitches without secured community use.,
Assessment results
6.86 The following assessment Figure provides a summary of the assessment of supply and demand. This takes account of the teams and pitches identified in the Figure above. Additional demand is accounted for in the commentary that follows. It is important to note that the assessment figures provide a theoretical figure for surplus and deficiency. Hockey clubs generally (given the lower number of clubs, their reliance on synthetic facilities and the general distribution of these) catchments for clubs are likely to be larger than for eg football pitches. For the purposes of the assessment, it has been assumed that each AGP can accommodate up to 4 back to back matches per weekend day. There are no specific restrictions on match times and fixtures are generally played between 1030 and 1730 (a 7 hour period).
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Table 6.10- Assessment results: Hockey COMMUNITY TEAMS ONLY CENTRAL SUB SOUTH SUB Model Stage Results SHROPSHIRE NORTH SUB AREA AREA AREA
CURRENT ASSESSMENT All Hockey - 0.25 -1.25 +0.9 +1.2 Surplus / deficiency in pitches
FUTURE ASSESSMENT All Hockey -1.2 -1.7 +0.7 +0.8 Surplus / deficiency in pitches
QUALITY ASSESSMENT AGPs for Hockey* 46.70% (7 pitches) 33.3% (1 pitch) 40% (2 pitches) 80% (4 pitches) %of pitches rated as ‘good’ or ‘excellent’
Factoring in other demand
6.87 It is estimated that demand from schools and training use could generate in the region of another 172 game equivalents. However, this additional demand impacts less on the hockey modelling than for other sports. AGPs are designed to withstand significant use and providing there are adequate maintenance programmes in place, and surfaces are replaced in a timely fashion then individual AGP capacity is not considered to be an issue.
Latent demand
6.88 No latent demand has been identified, however of the clubs responding to consultation, 4 identified capacity for new members. Lack of access to appropriate facilities for training and competition is an issue for some clubs eg Wem Hockey Club, Bridgnorth Hockey Club, Church Stretton Hockey Club.
Club views
6.89 Hockey clubs were also asked to rate the quality of the pitches they use. While most clubs rated the pitches they used positively (except grass pitches on school sites, and specifically Bridgnorth Leisure Centre AGP, and the pitches at RAF Cosford) views on changing room facilities were generally negative. 3 of the 4 clubs commenting on facilities rated changing room facilities serving AGPs as ‘average’ at best eg Bridgnorth Leisure Centre, Bishop’s Castle Cricket Pitch and Church Stretton School.
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Impact of quality on capacity
6.90 Pitch quality of the pitches rated is not judged to impact on capacity. Nearly all sites were rated positively, and subject to appropriate maintenance regimes should be more than adequate to meet demand. The audit highlighted a number of facilities, and specifically some newly developed provision that is not floodlit eg new AGP at William Brookes School, Much Wenlock. A lack of floodlighting may impact on capacity overall as pitches will be of limited use for club training or extended match day use. What is also noted is that some clubs have to play games out of their area eg Wem Ladies playing at RAF Cosford, Bishops Castle Hockey Club who will need to play out of the area if they have to move off existing grass pitches.
Ancillary Facilities
6.91 In terms of sites accommodating AGPs pitches, most of the sites in use are served by changing rooms. However, despite the presence of changing rooms clubs report some quality issues. In some cases this is because changing rooms are out dated or more designed to serve the needs of school sport than community clubs.
Pitch Access
6.92 As with the football assessment, access has been considered from a number of perspectives. The findings include:
50% of clubs responding to consultation identify ‘internal funding’ as a key issue – that is many experience issues with running costs and balancing money in via subs etc with expenditure, including pitch hire charges – this could suggest hire fees are quite burdensome for a number of clubs
Information on the hire charges that clubs pay is limited. Some clubs pay an annual fee for dedicated use in community hours, others pay a match fee – this ranges from £65 per match on an AGP to £250 per season for use of grass pitches.
All respondent clubs have capacity for new members, and all project growth. This suggests that demand for hockey will increase over the next 10 years.
Some clubs eg Bridgnorth Hockey Club struggle to access sufficient time on an AGP for both training and competitive play.
RAF Cosford and Shawbury, plus AGPs on school sites without secured community use, have limited access.
6.93 The clubs responding to consultation did not present an overall consensus on acceptable travel distances; however those responding suggest that close proximity of facilities to local catchments is more important than high quality facilities. Acceptable distances for the majority of club members to travel to local facilities ranged from 3 miles through to 10 miles. The average of 7 miles is more than for other sports where pitches are more plentiful and locally prominent.
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Other issues and challenges
6.94 The collection of raw data and application of the PPM overlooks a number of key characteristics of supply and demand that need to be highlighted and considered within the assessment conclusions. These include:
The use of AGPs for other sport, particularly during midweek evenings – the audit identified a number of pitches, full and small size, suitable for hockey which are dedicated for football use, or have significant use from other sports which impacts on access for hockey usage eg Bridgnorth Sports Centre,
Draft of assessment findings: Hockey
The headlines:
1. On the basis of the assessment and additional evidence collected there is a current and future deficit of surfaces appropriate for playing hockey in the North sub area. Apparent surpluses in the Central and South areas are only marginal. There are fewer hockey teams in the Central area than in both the North and South sub areas. N.B 3G pitches can be used for hockey training, but their shorter pile does not make them appropriate for competitive hockey.
2. Quality is sufficient providing pitches are managed and maintained appropriately, and that adequate resources are in place for the replacement of facilities
3. Although there are small numbers of clubs, several of these generate significant numbers of teams. As a result there are at least 2 clubs needing to access facilities out of their immediate catchment area to service the demand they generate
4. Growth in hockey, on the basis of local projections is projected to be significant, particularly in the North and South sub areas (3 teams in each area) – all clubs project growth. Existing AGP provision is not located correctly to meet this demand current and future ( more AGP facilities in the Central area, and lower demand), particularly in relation to the North and South sub areas.
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7 Assessment and Analysis Summary – Minor Sports
7.1 This section provides a commentary on the eight other pitch sports assessed, specifically: Bowls, Tennis, Athletics, and Golf. In identifying minor sports, it is also interesting to highlight that Shropshire is the location of 2 of the 3 croquet lawns in the West Midlands, at Church Stretton and Monkmoor Recreation Ground, Shrewsbury. It is also important to stress that where a minor sport is supported at national level through a Whole Sport Plan, provision at local level should be reflective of relevant priorities, and NGBs should be involved in discussions about future facility provision – quantity and quality.
Bowls
Supply and Demand Overview
7.2 Bowling Greens as sports facilities accommodate a range of formal and casual use. Demand manifests itself through differing uses, such as formal bowling teams using facilities for league games, or for individuals to bowl on a more casual or informal basis.
7.3 Information supplied by Energize Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin has identified 41 bowling clubs within Shropshire, which predominately cater for senior/veteran men, senior ladies and mixed senior teams. Of the clubs who responded to a request for information, none appear to provide for junior participants; however this may be a different case in clubs who did not respond to consultation.
Quantity: Bowling Greens
7.4 Bowling greens in Shropshire are provided through a network of public facilities (often in parks and recreation grounds) and private facilities (through private clubs). Ownership of key bowling green sites includes social clubs, individual club ownership, parish council, local authority or private, with a range of management options in place.
7.5 In addition the outdoor bowling greens assessed as part of this study, it is important to highlight that there is also an indoor bowling centre in Shrewsbury, developed as part of the Shrewsbury Sports Village. Although not part of this study, and therefore not audited, this facility is does provide year round opportunities for indoor bowling, and is therefore an important element of the bowling facility network. The Indoor Bowling Centre was assessed in the Shropshire Indoor Facility Strategy 2010, and is a high quality, accessible facility.
7.6 The audit of bowling provision within the area has identified a total of 10 bowling greens currently with community use and a further 106 bowling greens without community access (across 98 sites),. Details of sites are provided in Appendix 1.
Quality: Bowling Greens
7.7 The quality of bowling greens has been assessed via club consultation and via site visits, using a non- technical visual assessment (standard proforma). A number of criteria have been examined, specifically:
Presence of floodlighting
Surface / turf
Benches
Condition of gullies / backboards
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Whether the facility is served by a pavilion and staffed
Appropriate fencing
7.8 It is important to note that bowling greens were predominately quality checked as part of larger recreational sites; however some individual bowling green sites were also included within the quality assessments.
7.9 In total 93 greens were quality checked, the results of the audit are summarised as:
Table 7.1 – Quality of Bowling Greens Rating Of Green Number Of Greens Percentage % Excellent 21 22% Good 43 47% Average 15 16% Below Average and Poor 14 15% Total 93 100%
7.10 As shown the majority of bowling greens (68%) have been assessed as being of a good standard or above with only 15% being rated as below average/poor. Site visits also identified a large variance in quality scores from 20% - 93%, with the Archibald Worthington Club having been recognised as the highest quality scoring site, of those visited.
7.11 Clubs using local facilities were also consulted about their ratings of the quality of the bowling greens they use. Only eight clubs responded to the information request regarding quality of provision, although additional chasing was undertaken. Of the eight responses received, one club rated the bowling green as ‘average’, three rated the green as ‘good’ and four provided an ‘excellent’ rating. It must however be noted that when questioned specifically about ancillary facilities i.e. changing provision, toilets etc, only one site was rated as ‘good’ and two as ‘excellent’, with the remainder being rated as ‘poor’.
Access: Bowling Greens
7.12 A number of factors affect the accessibility of Bowling Greens. These include the geographical location of facilities and travel required, in addition to the membership policy on offer and the capacity to cater for new members. Analysis showed that all clubs, bar one, predicted an increase in membership of between 3 – 20 members. In relation to the membership policy a number of answers were provided including ‘open to all’, ‘open to all aged 10+’, ‘over 55’s’ and ‘by nomination’.
7.13 When questioned regarding travel, comments illustrated that the majority of people travel to bowling greens either on foot or by car, with average travel time taking between 3 – 30 minutes, although all clubs felt that this was acceptable.
7.14 Map 8 shows the distribution of bowls sites within Shropshire, the majority of which have community access. Although there is good distribution of facilities generally, there is a gap in accessible provision within the south east of Shropshire, as shown on Map 22. This map highlights that residents of a small area in south east Shropshire do not have access to a bowling green within a 20 minutes (6.67 mile) catchment area.
Tennis Courts
7.11 Tennis courts are provided in a variety of settings, including schools, local authority sites i.e. public parks or as part of sports grounds, through private bowling clubs and commercial operators i.e. Welti Tennis and Fitness Club. As with bowls, the demand for tennis is varied, ranging from facilities to accommodate formal league matches to casual games between friends and family
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7.12 Information supplied by Energize Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin has identified 30 tennis clubs within Shropshire, providing for both junior and senior participation opportunities.
Quantity: Tennis Courts
7.15 Although not part of this study, it is important to highlight the fact that there is an indoor tennis centre in Shrewsbury. Assessed as part of the Shropshire Indoor Facility Strategy 2010, the privately owned and operated Welti Tennis Centre provides indoor and outdoor courts. It is located adjacent to the Shrewsbury Sports Village. A high quality facility it is open to members only, but does provide year round opportunities for indoor tennis play.
7.16 Outdoor tennis courts have been audited through site visits and via questionnaires to known tennis clubs. The audit has identified a total of 196 accessible tennis courts via 75 individual sites. The number of tennis courts on each site ranges from one to eight, with Idsall School/Sports Centre and Welti Tennis Club providing the largest number of outdoor tennis courts (8). Refer to Appendix 1 for a full list of outdoor tennis courts within Shropshire.
7.17 LTA provision standards can be used as a framework for assessing quantity of provision. The standards are based on the assumption that 2% of the population regularly play tennis and demand court usage. On the basis of assumptions about frequency of use, the LTA advocates provision of 1 court per 45 players.
7.18 Assessment against this standard reveals that there is a need for 81 courts within Shropshire; 196 accessible courts have been identified.
Quality: Tennis Courts
7.19 Tennis court quality has been assessed on the basis of a non-technical visual assessment to a select number of tennis sites (75 sites and 196 tennis courts) within the study area (community use and non- community use). The assessment has considered the following factors:
Presence of floodlighting
Quality and condition of the playing surface and fencing
Access to ancillary facilities
Nets
Line markings
Secured entrance
Adequate run offs
Information board
7.20 Based on a simple scoring system, each facility has the potential to score a maximum of 100%.
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7.21 Key findings relating to the assessment of quality include:
Table 7.2 - Tennis Courts – Quality Ratings Rating Of Green Number Of Courts Percentage Excellent 45 22.9% Good 65 33.2% Average 78 39.8% Below Average 7 3.6% Poor 1 0.5% Total 100%
7.22 As shown, the majority of tennis courts within Shropshire were rated as ‘average’, this equated to just under 50% of provision. The above also identifies that 53% of courts were rated as good/excellent, with only a small percentage being rated as below average/poor. Again there was a wide range of quality scores obtained, with a range of between 20 and 95%.
7.23 Consultation with tennis clubs also provided a further indication of quality ratings. Although only seven club responses were provided, the majority of facilities used were rated as ‘good’, with only one grass and one shale courts being rated as ‘poor’ and ‘very poor’.
Access: Tennis Courts
7.24 As with bowling greens, a number of key factors affect access, one of which includes membership policies of private clubs. Research shows that the membership policy for six clubs is ‘open to all’ with no evidence of any restrictions. This could provide the opportunity for clubs to grow in the future, which correlates with club comments; the majority of tennis clubs in Shropshire predict that membership levels will rise for both junior and senior participants.
7.25 Tennis sites within Shropshire with community use are shown in (Map 9). This illustrates that there are significantly fewer tennis facilities in the South sub area; provision of courts is focussed on Shrewsbury and market town settlements.
7.26 Map 23 shows that across Shropshire there is access for all residents except very few in the extreme south west of the South sub area to a community use tennis court within 20 minutes drivetime (6.67 miles).
Athletics
Quantity: Athletics
7.27 The audit of athletics facilities focused on purpose built synthetic facilities that are publicly accessible. It is acknowledged that a number of schools are also likely to provide some provision (including temporarily marked out grass tracks) for athletics. The audit identifies 27 of these facilities.
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7.28 Information obtained from Active Places Power identified two synthetic athletics facilities within Shropshire, as listed below.
Table 7.3 – Athletics provision within Shropshire Site Name Number of Ownership Access Built In Refurbished Lanes
London Road Sports 6 lane, Further Pay and Play 2006 - Centre floodlit Education
Sports 8 lane, RAF Cosford MOD Club/Community 1980 2005 floodlit Association
7.29 The Athletics Facilities Planning and Delivery document for the United Kingdom (2007-2012) ensures that appropriate facilities, of the correct standard, are available to support the development of athletics to the Olympic Games of 2012 and beyond. The strategy sets standards of provision, which broadly requires:
One outdoor synthetic track (6 or 8 lanes) per 250,000 within 20 minutes drive (45 minutes in rural areas)
One indoor training centre per 500,000 people living within 30 minutes drive (45 minutes in rural areas)
7.30 Within the Shropshire unitary area, there were 283,174 residents (2009), however when considering athletics track provision it is more realistic to utilise the total area population within Active Age Groups (6 – 55 years), which is 182,161. As illustrated above there is an eight lane synthetic track located at RAF Cosford; given its location the accessibility of this facilities has to be taken into account in considering supply versus demand.
Quality: Athletics
7.31 Consultation with UK Athletics (Regional Contact) identified the following:-
RAF Cosford – this is a good quality facility which is well maintained. Site has good changing facilities, stand and hospitality facilities. The athletics track is predominantly used by the RAF, however Bridgnorth Athletics Club uses the facility twice a week and the site is used for some senior competitions (no junior competitions are currently held at the track).
London Road/Shrewsbury College – as stated above, the site provides a six lane synthetic track, which was built approximately three years ago. The site is of a good quality and is used as a base for Shrewsbury Athletics Club, in addition to a Shropshire Road Running Club
7.32 Based on the above, there do not appear to be any key issues with the current quality of athletics provision within Shropshire; however it is crucial to ensure that facilities are well maintained and high quality athletics facilities continue to be provided.
Access: Athletics
7.33 In relation to access, UK Athletics identified that there are barriers to accessing adequate athletics provision within the former Oswestry area. Clubs and individuals/groups wishing to utilise facilities have to travel to Shrewsbury or Wrexham, which has an impact on attendance levels and developmental opportunities. The provision of additional facilities in the north of Shropshire would assist in addressing this accessibility issue. www.scottwilson.com www.strategicleisure.co.uk 54 Shropshire Council Playing Pitch Strategy 2010 - 2020
Golf
7.34 Research obtained from the Sport England Active Places Power database shows that there are 22 golf courses within Shropshire, in addition to three driving ranges and six par 3 courses which are all shown in Table 7.4 below. Only 1 golf course, Meole Brace,is in the ownership of SC.
Table 7.4 – Golf Provision within Shropshire Driving Range Gold Course Site Name (Bays) (Holes) Par 3 (Holes) Arscott Golf Club 18 Bridgnorth Golf Club 18 Chesterton Valley Golf Club 18 Church Stretton Golf Club 18 Cleobury Mortimer Golf Club 3 x 9 holes Concord College 9 Ellesmere College 9 Elm Lodge 9 Haughton Hall Health Club 9 Hawkstone Park Hotel 16 2 x 18 holes Henlle Park Golf Club 18 Highley Golf Centre 9 Lilleshall Hall Golf Club 18 Ludlow Golf Club 18 Market Drayton Golf Club 18 Meole Brace Golf Club 12 Mile End Golf Club 12 18 Moreton Hall School 9 Oswestry Golf Club Severn Meadows Golf Club 18 Shifnal Golf Club 18 Shrewsbury Golf Club 18 Shrewsbury Golf Driving Range The Brow Golf Club 9 Welsh Border Golf Complex 10 9 9 Worfield Golf Club 18
Quality
7.35 Golf visits and quality assessments were not undertaken as part of the study scope, however attempts were made to consult with the Golf Foundation in order to obtain an overview of quality standards within Shropshire. Overall the golf courses in Shropshire are of good quality; the private membership clubs tend to be of a better quality than the pay and play courses.
Access: Golf
7.36 In relation to access, information was again extracted from Active Places Power in relation to:
Site ownership
Type of access to the facility
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Changing provision
Year the facility was built
Table 7.5 – Overview of Golf Access Levels
Site Name Ownership Access Type Access Access Facilities Disability Changing Changing Year Built
Arscott Golf Club Commercial Pay and Play Yes Yes 1992
Bridgnorth Golf Club Sports Club Pay and Play Yes Yes 1889
Chesterton Valley Golf Club Commercial Pay and Play Yes Yes 1993
Church Stretton Golf Club Sports Club Pay and Play Yes Yes 1898
Cleobury Mortimer Golf Club Commercial Pay and Play Yes Yes 1993
Other Independent Concord College Private Use Yes Yes 1960 School
Other Independent Ellesmere College Pay and Play Yes Yes 1950 School
Elm Lodge Commercial Pay and Play Yes Yes 1994
Haughton Hall Health Club Commercial Pay and Play Yes Yes 2001
Hawkstone Park Hotel Commercial Pay and Play Yes Yes 1918
Henlle Park Golf Club Commercial Pay and Play Yes Yes 2003
Highley Golf Centre Commercial Pay and Play Yes Yes 1990
Lilleshall Hall Golf Club Sports Club Pay and Play Yes Yes 1937
Sports Ludlow Golf Club Commercial Club/Community Yes Yes 1889 Association Sports Market Drayton Golf Club Sports Club Club/Community Yes Yes 1906 Association
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Site Name Ownership Access Type Access Access Facilities Disability Changing Changing Year Built
Meole Brace Golf Club Local Authority Pay and Play Yes Yes 1976
Mile End Golf Club Commercial Pay and Play Yes Yes 1992
Other Independent Moreton Hall School Pay and Play Yes Yes 1975 School
Sports Oswestry Golf Club Sports Club Club/Community Yes Yes 1903 Association
Severn Meadows Golf Club Commercial Pay and Play Yes Yes 1991
Sports Shifnal Golf Club Sports Club Club/Community Yes Yes 1904 Association
Shrewsbury Golf Club Sports Club Pay and Play Yes Yes 1891
Shrewsbury Golf Driving Commercial Pay and Play Yes No 1980 Range
The Brow Golf Club Sports Club Pay and Play Yes Yes 1995
Sports Welsh Border Golf Complex Commercial Club/Community Yes No 1992 Association
Worfield Golf Club Sports Club Pay and Play Yes Yes 1991
7.37 As highlighted above in Figure 7.4 the vast majority (80%) of golf sites within the Shropshire unitary area offer pay and play access, with only a small proportion (19%) of sites only allowing access for sports club/community association members and only one site stipulating private membership use only.
7.38 Research also shows that the individual sites were built between 1889 and 2003, however none of the courses have been refurbished since that date, although regular maintenance schemes should be in place at all sites.
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7.39 The following information provides additional analysis regarding golf provision in Shropshire.
Overall Golf Analysis
Site Ownership: 13 out of the 26 golf sites (50%) are commercially owned 9 out of the 26 sites (35%) are owned by sports clubs 3 out of the 26 sites (12%) are owned by other independent schools Only one site, Meole Brace Golf Club, is owned by SC
Disability Access: All of the 26 sites have disability access
Changing Facilities: 24 out of the 26 sites (92%) have changing facilities
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8 Summary of Key Issues and Conclusions
Minor Sports
8.1 Provision of continued access to a range of other outdoor sports facilities should be maintained; the quality of eg tennis courts and bowling greens needs to be taken into consideration when prioritising investment, given the current levels of provision.
8.2 It is important that the provision of some minor sports facilities eg bowls is particularly important in Shropshire given the ageing population.
8.3 Consultation did not identify and significant additional demand for mionor sports facilities; the audit demonstrates that there are already a large number of bowls greens and tennis courts across Shropshire. Many of these facilities are privately owned.
8.4 It is critical to understand the role that these facilities play at local level in terms of participation, social interaction and local quality of life. For this reason any proposals to change the use of eg a bowls green, or tennis court, or any other sports facility will need to be considered in detail in its own local context, including issues of accessibility, quality and quantity. This approach will be reflected through the locality planning process. Compensatory provision would need to be considered in relation to the proposed/planned development of any existing provision.
Major Sports
Surplus and Deficiency, by pitch type, overall and by sub area
8.5 Given the scale of this assessment and the myriad factors to be taken into account in terms of future pitch provision, this section summarises the overall position in relation to Shropshire across the four main pitch sports. It also establishes the existing key sites supporting participation, highlights the quality v value situation, and identifies key sites for future focus, and potentially investment.
8.6 Given that a separate PPG17 study has also been undertaken in Shropshire, this section also highlights how and where the two studies overlap and interact, and how the outcomes of each need to be used in relation to future protection, development or re-designation of pitch provision.
8.7 Table 8.1 summarises the findings of the playing pitch assessment across Shropshire, by sport and quality.
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Table 8.1 Summary of PPS Assessment by sport across Shropshire FOOTBALL CRICKET RUGBY HOCKEY CURRENT FUTURE
AREA CURRENT FUTURE CURRENT FUTURE CURRENT FUTURE MINI MINI YOUTH YOUTH YOUTH SENIOR SENIOR SOCCER SOCCER SOCCER FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FOOTBALL
SHROPSHIRE +16 +28 +105 +9 +15 +100 +7.3 +2.9 +17 +12 -0.25 -1.2
QUALITY 18% 22.8% 40.4% 52.7% 22.9% 46.7% ASSESSMENT
NORTH +3.4 +9.5 +34.5 +1.4 +5.5 +32.9 +1.4 -0.3 +1.5 -0.3 -1.25 -1.7
QUALITY 33% 20.8% 51% 50% 40% 33.3% ASSESSMENT
CENTRAL +6 0 +30.6 +2.8 -6.4 +28.6 +4.5 +3.8 -1 -2 +0.9 +0.7
QUALITY 25% 21.5% 33.6% 68.7% 33.3% 40% ASSESSMENT
SOUTH +3 +7.6 +24 +0.2 +3.5 +23 +0.3 -1.2 +8.1 +6.5 +1.2 +0.8
QUALITY 0% 25.9% 34.3% 42.8% 17.4 80% ASSESSMENT
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KEY Green = modelled surplus of pitches; Orange = modelled marginal sufficiency of pitches (highlights where sufficiency of provision is below 5 pitches - does not allow for any significant pitch resting/rotation etc); Red = modelled deficiency of pitch provision
8.8 In summary:
Football: At county level, there are significant current and future surplus of senior pitches across Shropshire; there is also a current surplus youth pitches but this decreases sharply into the future. There is a small current surplus of mini pitches; this reduces significantly in to the future. Quality deficiencies also an issue. There is a future deficiency in youth pitches in the Central area, and significantly lower levels of surplus youth pitches in the North and South sub areas. Future Mini pitch provision is only just sufficient in all sub areas.
Cricket: Current provision reaching capacity; quality varies across the county; deficits in provision against future projected demand (North and South sub areas), with the Central area only having marginal sufficiency.
Rugby: Pockets of deficiencies in current quantity (Central sub area) and quality with provision reaching capacity (North sub area); deficits in provision against future projected demand
Hockey:Pockets of deficiencies in current quantity (North sub area), and quality with provision reaching capacity; deficit in provision against future projected demand (North sub area), and only marginally sufficient provision in the Central and South sub areas.
Overall it should be a priority to address the pitch deficiencies/marginal sufficiency shown in Table 8.2. Looking across all sub areas, it is clear that across Shropshire there are significant issues to address, predominantly identified deficits, and critically much of the existing pitch stock reaching capacity.
Table 8.2 Summary of Priority Pitch needs to Address – by Pitch Type CURRENT CURRENT PITCHES AT PITCHES AT CAPACITY ON BASIS OF SUB AREA FUTURE DEFICIENCY DEFICIENCY CAPACITY PROJECTED TEAM GROWTH Cricket Rugby Mini Soccer NORTH Rugby Mini Soccer Hockey Cricket Hockey Mini Soccer Mini Soccer Youth Football Youth Football Cricket CENTRAL Rugby Rugby Cricket Hockey
Hockey Mini Soccer Mini Soccer SOUTH Cricket Cricket Hockey Hockey www.scottwilson.com www.strategicleisure.co.uk 61 Shropshire Council Playing Pitch Strategy 2010 - 2020
Quality
Pitches - There is variable quality of pitches across Shropshire; this variance relates to both pitch type by sport, and by area. In addition given the fact that Shropshire used to be five districts, there is a history of different grounds maintenance regimes and procedures, which have had a bearing on pitch quality. There are a significant number of pitches which are of poor quality; poor drainage is a particular problem.
Sport by Sport Summary
8.9 It is important to note that some football pitches were audited out of season, which can have an effect on overall quality ratings.
Mini Soccer The majority of mini football sites were rated ‘below average’ There are some ‘good’ quality sites, however there are few of these in the South sub area Quality improvements are required to mini soccer pitches generally and in particular within the south of Shropshire
Youth Football Although there are a number of ‘good’ quality youth football sites within the North and Central areas of Shropshire, there are also a large number of sites rated ‘below average’ throughout Shropshire, and in particular within the North and Central sub areas. Pitches in the South sub area also need improvement. Where sites were visited and quality checked, it is important to note that within the South sub area, few sites are rated above ‘below average’ which indicates that significant improvements to quality are required Of those sites quality checked in and around the previous area of Shrewsbury, provision was generally rated as being of a ‘good’ standard
Senior Football Senior pitches in the Central and South sub area are in need of real improvements to quality. Although there are fewer facilities within the south, in part due to the general rural nature of the area and the level of demand from sports clubs, the need for good quality facilities still remains. Due to the low number of facilities available, the pressure on facilities to accommodate peak demand is greater and as such they need to be of good quality Mapping exercises identified that there are fewer ‘poor’ senior football sites within the north west of Shropshire, however improvements are still required within the North sub area Senior football pitches generally are deemed to be of a better quality than those supplied for youth and mini participants The assessment has highlighted a surplus in provision of senior football pitches; it is important to stress that this surplus is theoretical and the data needs to be reviewed on a regular basis to avoid potential loss of pitches, based solely on a numerical assessment.
8.10 General improvements are required to all football provision, in particular mini and youth provision across Shropshire. Such improvements would normally include improvements to drainage, levelling, re- seeding etc.
Cricket The majority of cricket sites across Shropshire appear to be of a good standard. The vast majority of sites are deemed to be ‘good/average’; this may reflect the fact that most cricket pitches are private/club facilities, or are on sports grounds rather than parks Some cricket sites were rated as ‘poor’ (Central and South sub areas) The pitches in the South sub area of Shropshire are the poorest in relation to quality
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Rugby Rugby facilities tend to be of an ‘average’ standard with the exception of the south west area, where a number of sites were rated ‘below average’; this may reflect the fact that most rugby pitches are club pitches, rather than public Improvements could generally be made to rugby sites within Shropshire; the South sub area is again in greatest need of investment. Few sites were rated as ‘good’ in the South and Central sub areas.
Hockey Sand and water based synthetic turf pitches within the study area were predominantly deemed to be of a high standard, with very few improvements to quality required. Two new water- based pitches have recently been developed at Lilleshall.
8.11 Recommendations on quality standards moving forwards will take into account the need for a consistent approach to maintenance, pitch rotation and resting.
Changing provision
8.12 Ancillary facilities (specifically changing rooms) greatly affect the quality of, and accessibility to, facilities. In terms of our assessment, the lack of changing facilities reduces a potential pitch quality score by 15%. We found that a large number of all football pitches are served by no, or below average, provision.
8.13 The lack of appropriate and quality changing facilities is an issue for all pitch sports, and even within some club owned provision. The facilities that do exist are not all of the appropriate quality or design. This means that accommodating women’s and girl’s football for example is a significant issue.
8.14 There is a lack of changing provision generally and many pitches/sites are without any adequate facilities. This situation also affects the assessment of supply and demand and will reduce the theoretical deficits in provision, as not all existing pitches are actually available for all types of competitive use if the changing facilities are inadequate.
Latent Demand
8.15 There is latent demand identified through the assessment for football, cricket and rugby; feedback from hockey clubs has been less conclusive. There are some very large and growing football and rugby clubs in Shropshire, particularly in relation to youth and mini participation which will change the supply and demand ratios in the future. There are also several cricket clubs which would like to grow. This will impact on the current surpluses identified and is likely to change the types of pitches provided on existing sites to accommodate the changed nature of demand.
8.16 The main constraint on all pitch sport clubs growing is a lack of access to appropriate and quality facilities – pitches and ancillary provision.
Future Demand
8.17 Future demand impacts on the current level of pitch provision; there will be deficits in relation to youth football pitches, rugby, cricket and hockey provision based on estimated growth in teams (based on % growth figures from NGBs).
8.18 Existing quality issues will further compound the future deficit of pitches, given the impact of poor quality provision on the number and frequency of matches accommodated per pitch.
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8.19 In addition, the projected population growth as a result of new housing developments around Shrewsbury and in the North and South sub areas, will impact on future demand for playing pitches. The future population projections have been used to estimate future pitch requirements; the critical factor is that this future demand is likely to be focussed in specific areas of the county eg NW Shrewsbury, and around the main market towns in the north and south sub areas.
Sport Development and Key Clubs
8.20 The TGR’s suggest a need for more sports development work linked to girls’/female participation. Further work around club and coach development may be required within all sports, with the exception of female football. Team generation rates also appear to suggest a high demand for facilities within Shropshire for youth participants; however demand for senior teams appears to be much lower, specifically for senior hockey/rugby. This could change however if sport development work is undertaken now with young people.
8.21 Current and future NGB facility requirements should also be taken into account within Shropshire. Consultation regarding outdoor facility requirements identified a need for:-
Additional youth and mini football pitches within the North, South and Central sub areas, as well as general improvements to pitch quality across Shropshire
Increased provision of cricket pitches across all sub areas, and general improvements to cricket facilities, including indoor nets and outdoor pitches, as set out in the ECB Strategy
Additional rugby pitches in the North and Central sub areas, and general improvements required to rugby provision including floodlights, AGPs, pitch construction/drainage, changing rooms etc
8.22 The need for additional synthetic pitch provision (for hockey) to cover the extensive rural area in the South sub area (former South Shropshire).
8.23 Other issues to factor into overall future participation and development include accessibility, pitch booking and management, and pricing policies. Accessibility is key for pitch users, irrespective of ownership or operational management. There need to be clear policies about booking, user responsibilities, and a consistent approach to maintenance of both pitches and ancillary provision.
8.24 In relation to pricing the information gathered from the clubs appears to be broadly comparable with other local authority areas in the midlands and north of the UK. Given that some clubs have identified cost per pitch and others hire costs per season it is difficult to be more definitive on this issue, even on a sport by sport basis. What is clear is the need for pitches and ancillary provision to be of good quality, and appropriate to meet user needs to sustain existing use and accommodate future demand, and represent value to pitch sport participants.
Location and Accessibility
Pitch Ownership
8.25 There are a number of different pitch providers in Shropshire for example local authority, schools and other education institutions, clubs, commercial organisations, voluntary organisations. Given this situation accessibility availability differs around Shropshire and is a factor that needs to be taken into account in determining actual supply and demand. There mat be potential to negotiate access to existing facilities which are currently unavailable for community use, to address future identified deficiencies in pitch provision.
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Contribution of School Facilities
8.26 The contribution of school facilities with community use, specifically playing pitches, has been considered within the assessment. The audit undertaken shows that a large percentage of school sites currently offer use of their facilities, with only marginal improvements to community use being feasible.
8.27 Currently there appears to be no “blanket” policy relating to the community use of school sites, with schools making their own decision about community access. Effectively this means that the supply available each season could be subject to fluctuation if schools decide not to let their pitches. Given the existing dual-use policy in place in relation to indoor facilities it would be beneficial for Shropshire Council to consider a similar approach to the provision and use of playing pitches, particularly where there is a shortage of good quality provision.
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Planning Policy
8.28 In terms of planning policy, the PPS assessment reflects the wider PPG17 work already undertaken. Table 8.3 (Table 13.4 Section 13, PPG17 Audit and Assessment 2009-10 pmpgenesis) summarises the position for amenity greenspace and provision for children and young people; this is relevant in terms of the future provision of playing pitches and needs to influence how, where and what playing pitches are provided in the future.
Table 8.3 - Implications of key issues by open space type for the Local Development Framework Typology Settlement hierarchy Key Issues Implications for LDF Policy
Application of the quantity standards in Shrewsbury suggests that provision is currently below the recommended level. As the population grows, unmet demand is likely to increase and new provision will be Any Developer Contributions SPD or required. In light of the small catchment area, new provision is likely to be DPD should facilitate contributions particularly important in the event of the development of new areas of towards improvements to the quality housing. of amenity green spaces as well as
new spaces where these are The quantity shortfalls suggest that, while the distribution of sites is even, required. Local standards should be the capacity of existing amenity spaces may be insufficient to meet local used to determine the amount of Amenity needs. Application of the standard at a ward level suggests that in Shrewsbury space required as part of new Green Space particular, new provision should be targeted at the Column and Meole development and these should be Brace wards. incorporated into guidance.
The overall policy on the protection of Given that most residents have access to at least one type of informal open space should include strategic open space, in the shorter term, qualitative improvements should be amenity spaces. It may also be priority. necessary to allocate new sites in
areas of identified deficiency. As the population grows and the shape of the town changes, new provision will be required. Given the pressures on existing sites, new provision should also be considered where opportunities arise.
Application of the quantity and accessibility standards suggests that there are some deficiencies and that new provision will be required in some areas. In particular, consider the provision of new amenity spaces (and / or parks) in Shifnal and Broseley. Outside of these areas, given the good Market Towns access to amenity space as well as other types of informal open space, in the short term, it will be important to improve the quality of existing amenity spaces. In the longer term, new provision will be required in line with new development.
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Typology Settlement hierarchy Key Issues Implications for LDF Policy
Based on a minimum size for an amenity space of 0.2ha, application of the quantity standard indicates that all settlements exceeding 400 residents should contain an amenity space. This provides an indication only and Smaller Settlements guides decision making relating to new development. In order to adequately meet the accessibility standard, amenity spaces would be required in all villages.
Application of the quantity standards in Shrewsbury suggests that Policy should give consideration to provision for children is currently below the recommended level with both the provision for children and shortfalls equating to 0.32 hectares. As the population grows, unmet facilities for young people as separate demand is likely to increase and additional facilities will be required. At entities. least four new facilities will be required to meet existing gaps.
Any Developer Contributions SPD or In areas where residents are outside of the catchment area of existing DPD should take on board the provision, new facilities should be prioritised. As highlighted as part of the standards recommended and should quality vision, facilities should be tailored to meet the needs of local promote a strategic approach to play Provision residents through consultation. In particular, application of the accessibility provision, requiring either new for Children and quantity standards demonstrates that there are shortfalls in the Shrewsbury facilities for both children and/ or and Young Porthill, Battlefield and Heathgates, Sundorne and Monkmoor / Column young people depending on local People wards. Outside areas of deficiency, qualitative improvements should be need and aspirations or qualitative prioritised. As the population of Shrewsbury grows, it will be important to improvements to existing facilities. ensure that facilities for children are provided to meet the needs of new
residents. Design guidance provided as part of
planning documents should promote Like facilities for children, application of the quantity standard for young the development of a variety of people demonstrates that there is a shortfall in provision in Shrewsbury. different facilities, including the New facilities are therefore required to meet the needs of young people. provision of challenging and Demand will further increase in the event of new development in this area innovative facilities as opposed to of the county. Traditional play provision.
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Typology Settlement hierarchy Key Issues Implications for LDF Policy
Application of the quantity standards across the market towns indicates that there is an overall shortfall of provision equivalent to 0.63 hectares (this equates to over 10 facilities).
Application of the accessibility standards reveals that the distribution is varying across the different towns.
The key priorities for new provision are Bridgnorth, Broseley and Much Wenlock. Outside of the above areas, the initial focus should be on qualitative improvements to existing sites. The quality of existing provision Market Towns is the lowest of all areas in the county and 20 sites achieved quality scores of 60% and below. This highlights the need for qualitative improvements in the market towns. These improvements should take on board the priorities raised through the quality vision.
For young people, application of the quantity standard demonstrates that there are shortfalls in all market towns with the exception of Bishops Castle, Church Stretton, Ludlow and Wem. In these areas, ongoing maintenance and qualitative improvements should be prioritised above new provision. In other areas, new provision will be required.
Based on the average size of 400m2 for a play area, application of the local standard demonstrates that as a minimum, settlements containing Smaller Settlements 286 residents or more should contain a play area. Settlements of above 1000 residents should contain facilities for young people. Linkages to other settlements should also be prioritised.
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8.29 In making recommendations for future pitch provision the assessment takes into account the policies essentially resisting development on existing green space, the potential relocations of pitches around Shrewsbury, and the possible re-development of the Quarry Pool on the Sports Village site (loss of 2 pitches potentially). In relation to the latter proposal, the recreational value and impact of new, high quality indoor provision on local participation levels will need to be taken into account.
8.30 Equally, there is a need to consider the benefits of developing/marking more pitches on existing sites, and particularly those with good ancillary facilities/infrastructure, if the outcome results in a multi-pitch site/hub. Relevant to this debate is the lack of such a site in the NW of Shrewsbury where there will be a significant population increase as a result of three new housing developments.
8.31 The assessment makes very clear recommendations on the nature of sites which are truly surplus to requirements and those which need to be retained – both as existing pitch provision and those which need to provide a different type of pitch to meet current and future demand.
8.32 Recommendations on future provision standards also take into account the need for pitch maintenance, rotation and resting, season to season, to address identified quality issues.
Growth Point
8.33 There are a number of planned residential growth areas within Shropshire in i.e. previous areas of North Shropshire, South Shropshire and Shrewsbury. Although timescales for development and growth levels are yet to be clarified, the additional population growth will have an impact on existing sports provision which must be taken into account. Around Shrewsbury there is significant planned residential development in the north west of the town, as well as around the ring road to the south and south east of the town.
8.34 The proposed growth and development around Shrewsbury will have a major impact on the demand for provision. The high TGRs across all pitch sports in specific age categories also needs to be reflected in planning for future provision of quality and accessible pitches.
8.35 It is also important to consider key population data and recent population trends within the area i.e. reducing number of younger people and an increase in the number of older people, over and above the England average rate, which again has an impact on the quantity, type and location of playing pitch provision, and outdoor sports facilities required.
8.36 It is also crucial to note that as age increases regular participation in sport, and specifically pitch sports declines and the need for facilities subsequently decreases. However there are exceptions to such a decline and certain sports are likely to experience an increase, most notably bowls where increased participation shows a clear correlation with older age. Such key demographic data will be important in future strategic planning for provision.
8.37 Given the high levels of demand for youth and mini football in particular, it will also be important to ensure that there is sufficient playing pitch provision to meet both current and future need. Given the existing surplus of senior pitches this demand can be accommodated on current sites, by re- designating senior pitches to youth and mini facilities.
8.38 Both the PPG17 and PPS studies highlight the need for additional provision in and around Shrewsbury; in relation to amenity space this is identified in the PPG17 study as being needed in the Meole Brace (NW) and Column wards (SE); in terms of provision for children and young people, the wards of Column/Monkmoor (SE), Meole Brace (NW), Porthill (NW), Battlefield and Heathgates (NE) , and Sundorne (E) are highlighted as priorities.
8.39 Of the market towns additional amenity provision is needed in Broseley and Shifnall, with existing provision improved in other market towns; additional children’s and young people’s provision is needed in Bridgnorth, Broseley, Much Wenlock and all other market towns except Bishop’s Castle, Church Streeton, Ludlow and Wem. www.scottwilson.com www.strategicleisure.co.uk 69 Shropshire Council Playing Pitch Strategy 2010 - 2020
8.40 In the rural areas, the PPG17 study suggests that all settlements of 400 + need good quality amenity provision, and those with populations of 286+ should have provision for children and young people.,
Local Standards
8.41 The PPS proposes new standards – quality and quantity - of provision for playing pitches across Shropshire. In so doing it takes into account the fact that there will need to be different approaches in the rural and more urban areas, given the differences in existing levels of pitch supply, the variance in population density, and where population growth will be focussed in the future.
8.42 In line with the indoor facilities strategy, standards of provision (quality and quantity) are based on settlement type ie Shrewsbury, market towns and rural settlements. These also reflect the TGRs, latent demand and future demand.
8.43 The proposed standards also reflect the fact that pitches/a pitch in a rural settlement/area may also perform other local functions eg village green/site of village festival etc as well as being a playing pitch.
8.44 Given the geographical variances across Shropshire and the feedback from clubs ie the fact that clubs and therefore individuals travel significant distances to play and train, it is considered appropriate to specify accessibility to pitches in terms of travel time. Based on a 20 minute travel time, which in rural areas is comparable with travel times to shops, schools and other community amenities, the majority of Shropshire residents have access to at least one playing pitch. For many residents travelling time is significantly less.
8.45 The standards of provision also reflect the infrastructure needed for eg hub pitch sites as opposed to that for village greens.
8.46 In proposing future standards of playing pitch provision, it is also important to recognise that a significant number of playing pitches are actually in private ownership eg clubs; these complement the pitches provided through local authorities (SC, town and parish councils), and those on education sites. The Local Standards focus on the pitches provided by the local authorities, over which they have control; it is however recognised there is a general need to improve the quality of both pitch and ancillary accommodation quality across all but a very few sites. Quality of pitches is particularly poor around Oswestry, some parts of Shrewsbury and across the South sub area.
8.47 Given the above, and the approach taken in relation to indoor sports facility provision, the PPS proposes a combined Local Standard for playing pitch provision, reflecting both quality and quantity, as follows, for each settlement type.
Table 8.4 Proposed Local Standards Type of Playing Pitch Provision Quantity and Quality (available Settlement Catchment for community access) Type Area Quality Quantity
20 mins travel Good Quality Four strategically located multi-pitch sites, time for all pitches providing for competition and training, with good residents quality on-site changing and toilet provision, appropriate for, and accessible to, all user types. Each site should be linked to a key youth and senior club to implement development Shrewsbury pathways.
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Type of Playing Pitch Provision Quantity and Quality (available Settlement Catchment for community access) Type Area Quality Quantity
One site ie Roman Road to be designated as a hockey focus.
All other pitch sites to have a minimum of toilet provision on site.
20 mins travel Good Quality Minimum of 1 multi-pitch site providing for time for all pitches competition and training, with good quality on- residents site changing and toilet provision, appropriate for, and accessible to, all user types. Each site should be linked to a key youth and senior club to implement development pathways. Future policy should focus on multi-pitch site Market Town provision, potentially in partnership with education, to include facilities for training and competitive play, appropriate to the needs of the on-site sports.
All other pitch sites to have a minimum of toilet provision on site.
20 mins travel Good Quality At least one playing pitch site per village time for all pitch (es) cluster/large village which can accommodate residents football and or cricket/rugby. Village
Cluster/Large Small sided floodlit MUGA for training/floodlit Village grass area for training.
Minimum ancillary provision of toilets on site.
8.48 The above standards should achieve the minimum following levels of playing pitch provision across Shropshire and in each sub area; these provision levels do not take into account the need to rest, rotate and maintain pitches on an ongoing basis.
Table 8.5: Future Quantity Standards Required Playing Pitch Provision – available for community use (by 2020) Pitch Type North Sub Central Sub South Sub Shropshire Area Area Area 10.6 Mini Soccer 34.8 13.2 15.8
18.5 Youth Football 55.9 25.4 23.5
14.1 Senior Football 53.9 30.4 12
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Required Playing Pitch Provision – available for community use (by 2020) Pitch Type North Sub Central Sub South Sub Shropshire Area Area Area 18.3 Cricket 53.1 12.2 22.2
16 Rugby 36.1 12 13.5
2.7 AGP (full size) 7.18 1.3 3.3
N.B Numbers for sub areas may not equate to overall Shropshire figures due to rounding
Identification of key sites – existing
8.49 There are a number of key existing pitch sites in Shropshire, although, given the rurality of the area, they do not necessarily function in the same way that key sites do elsewhere.
8.50 In the urban area of Shrewsbury there are three existing key football sites in the North, South East and West of the town, all linked to major youth football clubs ie Shrewsbury Juniors (Shrewsbury Sports Village), Shrewsbury Up and Comers (London Road Sports Centre (SCAT)), and Meole Brace Juniors (Roman Road Sports Centre. Roman Road provides the key hockey site for the town. Shrewsbury Rugby Club is the key rugby site in the town.
8.51 There are existing pitch sites in the market towns which could provide a future ‘hub’ focus in terms of both training and competition.
8.52 In the rural areas it is more difficult to identify key pitch sites given the fact that each settlement has potential accessibility issues. It is also not always practical to identify one key site in the rural areas to which all pitch sport participants are expected to travel; rather it is about establishing a hierarchy of pitch types, linked to key clubs and specifically development of participation.
8.53 Key sites for rugby and cricket are predominantly club owned facilities eg Ludlow, Bridgnorth, Oswestry, Wem, providing for both training and competitive games, with changing and ancillary provision. These tend to be located in/around the market towns, and many are multi-pitch, but single sport sites.
8.54 Hockey clubs eg tend to use hired facilities, so their key sites relate to training and competition venues, which are not necessarily the same pitches/facilities.
Identification of key sites – future
Quality v Value
8.55 A ‘Quality / Value’ matrix has been completed to help prioritise sites for improvement (currently identified as being available for community use). The outcomes are summarised in Error! Reference source not found.. This uses the results of the assessment to establish the current quality of the facilities, and their value in terms of providing for local sporting opportunities. Sites with more than one pitch and catering for more than one sport are viewed as being higher value sites. Low value sites are typically single pitch sites with no changing facilities or which are underutilised.
8.56 Using the matrix, 12 sites are prioritised for improvement. This provides a framework for targeting investment and supporting funding applications.
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Table 8.6 - Quality / Value Matrix Site Classifications with regard to Community Use Site Classification Likely Action Sites
Childs Ercall Playing Fields (F)
Sports and Social Club, Wem (F)
Shrewsbury Sports Village (F)
Stanley Parker/Highwood Sports Centre (F)
Condover Cricket Club (C), (F)
Prees Recreation Ground (C) (F)*
Sutton Cricket Club (C)
Wem Cricket Club (C)
Whitchurch Cricket Club (C) High Quality /
High Value in Protect Site Shrewsbury Rugby Club (R) terms of
Community Use Lacon Child Sports Centre (H) (F)*
London Road Sports Centre (H) (C)*
Monkmoor Recreation Ground (H), (F)*
Shrewsbury School (Boys’) (H) (R)
William Brookes School (H)*
RAF Cosford (H), (R), (C) , (F)
RAF Shawbury (H)
It is important to highlight that some of the above sites could offer potential as future outdoor pitch hub sites; these are marked *
High Quality / County Ground (C) Medium Value in Protect Site /
terms of Enhance Value Whitchurch Rugby and Hockey Club (R) Community Use
Whittington Cricket Club (F)
Yockings Park, Whitchurch (F) High Quality / Low Enhance Value / Value in terms of Change Use Norbury Football Club (F) Community Use
Western Rynn Playing Fields (F)
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Site Classification Likely Action Sites
Oakfield Park (Senior F)
Shifnall Town FC (F)
Morda FC (F)
Newtown Primary School, Newtown (F)
Dudlestone Recreation Ground (F)
Cockshutt Recreation Ground (F)
Church Road Playing Fields, Meole Brace (F)
Bridgnorth Town Football Club (F)
Pontesbury Playing Fields (F)
Friary Fields (F)
Wixhall County Primary (F)
Ludlow Football Club (F)
Baschurch Village Hall Playing Fields (Senior F)
Cheswardine Primary School (F)
Oswestry Boys and Girls’ Club (F)
Frankton Cricket Club (C)
Hodnet Cricket Club (C), (F)
Bishop’s Castle Cricket Cub (C)
Calverhall Cricket Club (C)
Oxon Recreation Ground (C)
Shifnall Cricket Club (C)
Worfield Cricket Club (C)
Land adjacent to Church Stretton School (C), (F)
Barracks Lane Sports Ground (C)
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Site Classification Likely Action Sites
Condover Cricket Club (F)
Idsall School Sports Centre (C)
Woore Cricket Club
Ludlow Rugby Club (R) Medium Quality / Improve High Value in (High/Medium Grange Sports Centre (H) (F) terms of Priority) Community Use Idsall School (H)
Marches Sports Centre (H)
Roman Road Sports Centre (H)
Sir John Talbot Sports Centre (H), (C), (F)
Roman Road (F)
Idsall Sports Centre (F)
RAF Cosford (F) Medium Quality / Medium Value in Improve (Medium Greenfields Primary School (F) terms of Priority) Community Use Penlu Sports Club (F)
Broseley Cricket Club (C)
Clee Hill Rugby Club (R) (new pitch under development; rating relates to second pitch)
Bicton Recreation Ground (F)
Buntingside Village Green OSF - Market Drayton (F)
Clun Memorial Hall Playing Fields (F)
Crown Meadow Playing Field (F) Medium Quality / Low Value in Improve (Low Hinstock Recreation Area – Hinstock (F) terms of Priority) Community Use Land North of St Andrew's C of E School (F)
Recreation Ground – Shawbury (F)
Recreation Ground off Hinwood Road (F)
Newcastle Football Club (F)
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Site Classification Likely Action Sites
Daffodil Lane Playing Field (F)
Hall Meadow (F)
Springfield Mere Playing Field (F)
St Peter’s Primary School, Wem (F)
Mary Webb School and Science Collage (F)
Birch Meadow Playing Field (F)
Radbrook Road Recreation Ground (F)
Hope Primary School (F)
Baschurch Recreation Ground (F)
Thomas Adams Sports Centre (F)
Ludlow Sports Club (F)
Oswestry Boys and Girls’ Club (F)
Market Drayton Junior School (F)
Oakfield Park (F)
Land off A488 (F)
Albrighton Cricket and Tennis Club (C)
Hinstock Cricket Ground (C)
Knockin Cricket Ground (C)
Oldbury Wells School (C) (F)
Oswestry Cricket Ground (C)
Priory School and Enterprise College (C) (F)
Low Quality / High Improve (High Value in terms of Severn Park (R) (F) Priority) Community Use
Low Quality / Bomere Heath C of E Primary School (F) Medium Value in Improve (High
terms of Priority) Stiperstones Primary School (F) Community Use
Reconsider Low Quality / Low Doctor’s Meadow Playing Field, Oswestry (F) recreational site Value in terms of use** Community Use www.scottwilson.com www.strategicleisure.co.uk 76 Shropshire Council Playing Pitch Strategy 2010 - 2020
Site Classification Likely Action Sites
Gatacre Playing Fields, Oswestry (F)
Lakelands School, Ellesmere (F) N.B These pitches have been resurfaced since the site assessment was undertaken, so are now better quality.
Cheswardine Recreation Ground, (F)
Claverley C of E Primary School
Playing Field, Worthen Village Hall (F)
Portywaen Playing Field, Oswestry (f)
Gobowen Playing Field (F)
Ashfields Road (F)
Ashford Carbonell Playing Fields (F)
Beckbury C of E Primary School (F)
Bishops Castle Recreation Ground (F)
Brown Clee C of E Primary School (F)
Brownclee Football Club, (F)
Bryn Offa Primary School (F)
Castlefields Primary School (F)
Clee Hill Primary School Playing Field (F)
Clee Hill Recreation Ground (F)
Cruckton Hall School (F)
Ellesmere County Primary School – Ellesmere (F)
Ifton Heath Primary School (F)
Innage Lane Youth Centre (F)
Kinlet C of E School (F)
Oakfield Road Recreation Ground - Market Drayton (F)
Oakland Primary School (F)
Onibury Primary School playing field (F)
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Site Classification Likely Action Sites
Shifnal Primary School (F)
Wheatfield Recreation Ground(F)
Worfield C of E Primary School (F)
Land adjacent to Meadowbrook Cottages (F)
Brompton Road (F)
Morton Playing Field (F)
Oswestry J & I Schools Playing Fields (F)
Brockton C of E Primary School (F)
Chirbury Primary School Playing Fields (F)
Crowmere Rd (F)
Crown Meadow (F)
Longlands School (F)
Corvedale Primary School Playing Fields (F)
Kinnerley Primary Pitch (F)
Morville Cof E Primary School (F)
Norton Playing Fields (F)
Winstanstow Village Hall Playing Fields (F)
Ryhn Park Secondary School Playing Fields(F)
Shelton Fields Recreation Centre (F)
Sheriffhales Primary School (F)
St Martin’s Playing Field, Oswestry (F)
Springfield Recreation Ground, Shrewsbury (F)
Trefonen Playing Fields, Oswestry (F)
Woodside School Playing Fields, Oswestry
The Glebelands, Shrewsbury (F)
Leasowes Recreation Ground, Shrewsbury, (F)
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Site Classification Likely Action Sites
Clockmills, Bridgnorth (F)
Stottesdon C of E Playing Fields (F)
West Felton Playing Field (F)
Shawbury Primary Schools (F)
Shrewsbury High School (F)
Recreation Ground, Burford (F)
Newcastle Primary School (F)
Baschurch Recreation Ground (F)
School Lane Playing Field, Bridgnorth (F)
Beckbury Playing Fields (C) (F)
Craven Arms Community Centre (C), (F)
Gaskell Arms Recreation Ground (C), (F)
KEY: F = football pitches; C = cricket pitches; R = rugby pitches);H = Hockey pitches;
** It is recognised that the use of some of these sites eg school playing fields cannot be changed /disposed of without agreement and community involvement
8.53 Investing in the identified priority sites will help in developing and establishing a hierarchy of playing pitch provision across Shropshire, based on the following 10 categories:
Multi-pitch sites providing for a number of sports; good quality pitches; good quality ancillary provision appropriate for all users; on-site training AGP facility/ies (floodlit)
Multi-pitch sites providing for the training and competition needs of one sport; good quality pitches; good quality ancillary facilities, appropriate for all users; floodlit AGP training facility
Multi-purpose pitch site; good quality pitch capable of supporting use for eg football and cricket; floodlit AGP facility; good quality ancillary facilities appropriate for all users
Multi-purpose pitch site; good quality pitch capable of supporting use for eg football and cricket; floodlit training facility; good quality ancillary facilities appropriate for all users
Multi-purpose pitch site; good quality pitch capable of supporting use for eg football and cricket; good quality ancillary facilities appropriate for all users
Single pitch site; good quality pitch; good quality ancillary facilities, appropriate for all users; floodlit training facility
Single pitch site; good quality pitch; good quality ancillary facilities, appropriate for all users;
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Single pitch site; good quality pitch; good quality ancillary facilities, appropriate for all users; training facilities
Single pitch site; good quality pitch; good quality ancillary facilities, appropriate for all users;
Single pitch site; good quality pitch; toilet provision
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9 Policy Options Appraisal
9.1 Any option to address the findings of the assessments and the priorities emerging from these is going to require significant investment and time to address. There is no quick fix, and any strategy needs to be phased and incremental. It needs to have partnership working at its core and adopt the ‘sweating the asset’ principle as a fundamental approach. Underpinning this is a need to be realistic about the current position (or baseline) and the ideal, and the amount of progress that can be made. An appraisal of a number of policy options has been completed to determine which are most appropriate to address the assessment findings.
Changing the use of existing pitches: ‘Re-designation’
9.2 This policy is most appropriate when there is a large surplus in provision for one sport, and deficiency in others, particularly in relation to winter sports. It is normally particularly relevant for football where youth and mini soccer provision is relatively easy to provide on existing senior pitches. It is less straight forward to re-designate surplus football into rugby. In addition to different pitch dimension and specifications, rugby is very much a club focussed game. Addressing any deficiencies in rugby provision for example must take into account the location of clubs, the location of existing demand and the subsequent usability of these pitches. It is also important to take consider the ownership of the current stock of pitches – from the Council’s perspective re-designation is really only viable across pitch stock in their direct control. The usefulness of this option needs to be considered in light of the overall assessment findings. In football in particular, there is in most areas a ‘net’ deficiency – that is, even with re-designation provision will still not be sufficient to meet demand,
There is real potential for this option to have a significant impact given the large surpluses of senior football facilities in all sub areas of Shropshire. This option has the benefit of protecting pitch sites, whilst addressing the current and future lack of some pitch types, particularly football, and therefore ‘future proofs’ pitch supply ie ensures that there will be sufficient capacity to meet demand for senior pitches from those who currently at mini or youth level.
9.3 The type of senior football pitch that would be a priority for re-designation to mini or junior provision would be a good quality pitch, preferably multi-pitch or with the potential to become so, ideally with provision for training ie synthetic surfaces, served by at minimum toilets suitable for junior and mini players.
Dual-use facilities and greater use of education pitches
9.4 This policy option is most appropriate when there is a large stock of high quality education facilities not in community use, and commitment from schools to open their facilities for wider use. In the case of Shropshire, only around 55% of playing pitch sites across the education stock is currently in community use, and this is not secured. There is no secured community use of playing pitches in Shropshire. . Not all these pitches are of a sufficient quality to meet the demands of community sport in addition to school use. For this policy to work there would need to be investment pitch quality, potentially increased maintenance and ancillary provision in some cases.
There is some potential to consider this option, but it is likely to have more impact in some areas than others, depending on the policy approach of individual schools. Opportunities to explore this option are included within the recommendations. There is potential to consider this option specifically in relation to secondary school sites in the market town; working in partnership with a school to provide community access to playing pitches would also create the opportunity to identify, invest in, and create ‘hub’, or ‘multi-pitch sites, which could contribute to the locality place-shaping agenda. A multi-pitch site can comprise a range of pitches for different sports, or a range of pitches for one sport eg football; ideally a hub/multi-pitch site should be capable of accommodating both training and competitive play. This approach, has, to a certain extent already been developed in the South sub area, but existing sites eg Ludlow do not necessarily include football. www.scottwilson.com www.strategicleisure.co.uk 81 Shropshire Council Playing Pitch Strategy 2010 - 2020
Application of this policy will require the active engagement and involvement of schools, NGBs and SC.
9.5 This option has most impact where there is generally poor provision across available stock, but the potential to improve provision at a number of key sites to increase capacity. The audit identified a significant number where quality is lacking (pitches rated below the ‘good’ standard). There is therefore potential to target some investment at key sites to increase the overall capacity of key sites. This would need to be done in conjunction with other policy options and use of all pitches managed appropriately (i.e. not overplayed).
9.6 The type of site that would be a priority for investment would be an existing good quality multi- pitch site, or have the potential to become so (multi-pitch meaning mini, junior and senior pitches for either one sport, or a range of sports, plus ideally at least synthetic training provision), have existing changing provision of reasonable quality and that meet the needs of all users i.e. women and girls, disability participants etc (or facilities that could become so with limited investment).
9.7 Council and education pitches should be considered under this category.
This option should be explored and a number of priority sites are identified in the recommendations.
Changing the use of other existing recreational open space
9.8 This option is most appropriate when there is a known surplus of provision across other types (typologies) of open space that could, at modest cost be brought into use as sports pitches. The PPG17 study has identified a lack of amenity provision, and facilities for children and young people in Shrewsbury, many of the market towns and in some of the rural areas. It also recommends the development of new provision in relation specifically to population growth.
This option would need further exploration as assessments and strategies are developed for other open space typologies and other sports facilities (e.g. tennis and bowls) through the PPG17 assessment. Given that deficits have been identified in all three settlement types in relation to amenity space and provision for children and young people this option may not offer significant potential; however, in all settlement types were new space to be developed for amenity/play use, it would be appropriate to at least consider including provision for youth and/or mini pitches, given the identified future demand for this type of pitch (See Table 8.2)
Bringing into play unmarked and disused facilities
9.9 This option is relevant where there is existing land designated as playing pitch provision which is currently disused or unmarked and could address local deficiencies.
This option therefore has limited potential to help address the issue of surplus senior football pitches, in the sense that disused sites are not really the issue; it is the fact that there is a lot of land marked for pitch types ie senior football, which are not used for this purpose, and could be better used if marked officially as youth/mini pitches. Sites are highlighted in the sub area specific recommendations
Management options, including Community Asset Transfer and long term leasing
9.10 This option is most appropriate where there is a track record of this policy resulting in more effective investment and access to external funding, improvements in quality etc and where there is also adequate provision to service demand created by the emergence of new clubs / teams.
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9.11 The option is more attractive where there is a surplus or adequate provision in a local level, and less pressure on facilities.
There is potential for this option to be explored further, dependent on the Council’s policy on priority use of pitches. In some areas, transferring assets to one club when there may be several clubs demanding additional facilities can be an issue, which has to be addressed through operational management agreements. The issue of community asset transfer falls within the Big Society agenda, including co-production and co-design; future appraisals of options for the management of playing pitches should look at these voluntary sector governance options alongside external management.
Develop new facilities on new sites
9.12 This option is generally a ‘last resort’ approach when all other options have been explored given the capital investment implications. It is only appropriate where there is a lack of provision overall and deficiencies across a number of sports which cannot be fully addressed by implementing the policy options outlined above.
This option will need to be explored further depending on the outcomes of key decisions on future facility requirements for sports – this includes the greater potential use of AGPs for football. Given the projected growth in Shropshire and particularly around Shrewsbury this option has potential; however before developing new pitches it is critical to invest in existing poor quality provision to optimise its capacity. Given the clear need for additional playing pitches across Shropshire, and particularly around Shrewsbury, the development of another strategic multi-pitch site, similar to the Sports Village, in the north west of the town, could address a significant amount of current and future need for youth and mini pitches, in conjunction with the re-marking of senior pitches to mini and youth elsewhere in the town. Similarly, existing senior pitches in the north and south sub areas which are not currently required should be re-marked as youth and senior pitches to meet actual current and future needs for playing pitch provision.
Develop additional facilities on existing sites
9.13 Given the identified focus on the development of multi-pitch of hub sites, future policy for playing pitch provision should also consider available options for the development of additional pitches on existing sites, but only if the site already has good ancillary infrastructure, sufficient space for additional, appropriate playing pitches and can accommodate both competitive play and training.
9.14 This option will only apply to larger sites such as eg the Shrewsbury Sports Village; implementing this policy will however have to be considered in the light of the impact of intensifying use and opportunities for participation in specific areas, against actual demand for playing pitch provision which might be in different parts of the same sub area, given that more pitches on one site may not improve/address accessibility.
Rationalisation of pitches surplus to requirements
9.15 The type of site that could potentially be considered for rationalisation would be one with a single pitch, where a pitch(es) is poor quality, and where there is no, limited ie no provision for women and girls, or not compliant with DDA), or poor condition changing provision on site.
9.16 Rationalisation of any playing pitch should only be considered once sufficient allowance has been made for replacement through better quality provision, and the operational needs for rotation, resting and maintenance have been factored into the decision.
9.17 If poor quality pitches can be replaced with better quality provision through either re- designation/opening up access to other existing pitches on school sites, any capital gained through sale of sites should being fenced for re-investment into pitch development and changing room improvement. www.scottwilson.com www.strategicleisure.co.uk 83 Shropshire Council Playing Pitch Strategy 2010 - 2020
10 Recommendations
10.1 It is clear from the appraisal that there is no one policy option that will adequately address the assessment findings and issues and challenges emerging from these. The future strategy must therefore comprise of a range of solutions.
General Strategy
10.2 The general strategy for Shropshire comprises the following priority themes. Underpinning them all is the need for investment, largely to improve quality, and to re-designate senior pitches which are not currently required. This is a given in relation to the assessment results where across the board there are deficiencies in quantity and quality.
1. Maximising the impact of current assets: For SC this means taking a more holistic and co- ordinated view of its existing pitch stock (across directorates, i.e. including Education pitches) and bringing into use facilities that do not currently have community use; where possible, secured community use should be implemented.
2. Prioritising multi-pitch and multi-sport sites - It is widely accepted that it is more cost effective to invest in sites benefiting a number of sports and securing year round use; priorities for these are around Shrewsbury, and in each market town. This means that pitch surfaces will need to cater for a number of sports eg football, rugby and cricket training; the performance specifications of eg 3G surfaces is critical in this respect.
3. Working in partnership: Linked to the above theme, it is important that SC works in partnership to address the assessment findings. There are a number of key partners and stakeholders involved in the development and provision of sports pitches. The recommendations need ‘buy in’ from internal and external partners. It will particularly key that opportunities for the FA and RFU to work together in relation to new/refurbished pitch provision (3G) are facilitated.
4. Maximising current investment opportunities: Investment in school sites, and maximising the impact of this for community sport is still critical to the PPS moving forward. Additionally, ensuring Section 106 monies and other investment through the planning process and local regeneration is targeted at the right types of provision in the right areas is important
5. Developing new provision: It is possible for all current shortfalls in pitch provision to be met through re-marking existing senior pitches and opening up community access to existing pitches on eg education sites. For this reason, developing new provision on new sites, despite the extent of growth in sport over the last few years and projected growth for the next 10 years is not the overriding priority, except in and around Shrewsbury, where the development of a large multi-pitch site is likely to be a more effective option than trying to invest in smaller, less strategically located sites. This approach will also need to be supported by an innovative approach, including the move away from natural turf and the use of Synthetic Pitches for some sports
6. Short, Medium and Long Term: The assessment has looked at the current position and relatively short term changes in demand. The strategy needs to focus on addressing the issues highlighted, but be seen as a working document. Not all the shortfalls in provision will be addressed in a 10- year strategy; the journey from the current situation to ideal facility mix may not be achievable in any timescale. Short term and interim solutions will be required to deal with the issues arising. This is most relevant when seeking to address deficiencies in changing provision. More temporary accommodation/agreed minimum facilities may be a short term solution and more cost effective on a larger scale.
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Recommendations – Future Playing Pitch Provision
Recommendations – Future Playing Pitch Provision
Re-designate existing good quality surplus senior football pitches to junior and mini pitches to address the current and future deficits in this type of provision, and realise a stock of high quality, high carrying capacity pitches.
Based on the PPG17 assessment re-considering whether all existing senior football pitches continue to be marked as such also provides the opportunity to de-classify R1 some existing pitch sites and retain as green space in for a range of informal uses, and potentially future pitches as demand requires.
The type of senior football pitch that would be a priority for re-designation to mini or junior provision would be a good quality pitch, preferably multi-pitch or with the potential to become so, ideally with provision for training ie synthetic surfaces, served by at minimum toilets suitable for junior and mini players.
Use the findings of the assessment together with the Quality / Value matrix to prioritise investment in playing pitches and ancillary facilities as per Figures 8.6 and 8.5 (Section 8) above, in line with the identified playing pitch hierarchy.
The type of site that would be a priority for investment would be an existing good quality multi-pitch site, or have the potential to become so (multi-pitch meaning mini, junior and senior pitches for either one sport, or a range of sports, plus ideally at least synthetic training provision), have existing changing provision of reasonable quality and that meet the needs of all users ie women and girls, disability participants etc (or facilities that could become so with limited investment). R2 Local authority and education pitches should be considered under this category.
The type of site that could potentially be considered for rationalisation would be one with a single pitch, where a pitch(es) is poor quality, and where there is no, limited ie no provision for women and girls, or not compliant with DDA), or poor condition changing provision on site.
If poor quality pitches can be replaced with better quality provision through either re- designation/opening up access to other existing pitches on school sites, any capital gained through sale of sites should being fenced for re-investment into pitch development and changing room improvement.
Given the findings of the assessment and particularly the lack of secured community use of playing pitches and therefore the reliance on local authority facilities there is a need to R3 strengthen and develop partnership working with private providers, Governing Bodies and neighbouring authorities; the PPS Strategy Group should be used to facilitate this. Addressing the deficiencies recorded cannot be the sole responsibility of any one agency / organisation.
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Recommendations – Future Playing Pitch Provision
Explore and develop closer partnership working with education and the role of school facilities to support mini and junior sports and potentially provide additional community accessible facilities eg potentially multi-pitch sites.. R4
There is a likely need for this recommendation to be supported by revenue funding to support additional maintenance costs and administration relating to pitch bookings.
Update the supply and demand information collated as part of the study on an annual basis as part of evaluating action and delivery. A full playing pitch assessment should be repeated every 5 years or as near as possible to fit in with the area planning process. This ongoing R5 updating and monitoring process should be facilitated through a formal Playing Pitch Strategy Group, comprising representatives from the Council (sport and leisure, education assets, planning and grounds maintenance), NGBs and Sport England.
Secured Community Use agreements, to an agreed specification, should be required from future school redevelopment schemes. Agreements can be required through the planning process where:
There will be a resulting loss in area or quantity of pitch provision R6 This will aid the achievement of PPG17’s objective of remedying local deficiencies
School playing fields are likely to have qualitative improvements, and there are identified qualitative deficiencies, whilst community use agreements should be required from future school redevelopment schemes.
Subject to resources, continue to develop regular consultation with pitch users to establish trend data in relation to satisfaction, ratings of quality and common pitch issues. This could be R7 undertaken via the pitch booking forms administered by SC to users of public football pitches, and through the Sport Development Team.
Continue to work with clubs to aid club and sport development. There are clubs that have R8 reached capacity in terms of expansion through success and would benefit from further support and assistance.
All playing pitches available for community use should be of a ‘good’ quality. R9
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Recommendations – Future Playing Pitch Provision
All changing and ancillary facilities available for community use should be of a ‘good’ quality; condition surveys on changing facilities should be undertaken at regular intervals to R10 identify any work that may be required, eg additional disability access requirements and provide an estimated lifespan for the building.
The Local Standard for playing pitch provision is:
Local Playing Pitch Standard
Type of Playing Pitch Provision Quantity and Quality (available for community access) Catchment Area
Quality Quantity Settlement Type Type Settlement
20 mins travel Good Quality Four strategically located multi-pitch sites, time for all pitches providing for competition and training, with residents good quality on-site changing and toilet provision, appropriate for, and accessible to, all user types. Each site should be linked to a key youth and senior club to implement development pathways.
Future policy should focus on multi-pitch site provision, potentially in partnership with education, to include facilities for training and R11 competitive play, appropriate to the needs of Shrewsbury Shrewsbury the on-site sports.
One site ie Roman Road to be designated as a hockey focus.
All other pitch sites to have a minimum of toilet provision on site.
20 mins travel Good Quality time for all pitches Minimum of 1 multi-pitch site providing for residents competition and training, with good quality on- site changing and toilet provision, appropriate for, and accessible to, all user types. Each site should be linked to a key youth and senior club to implement development pathways. Future policy should focus on multi-pitch site provision, potentially in partnership with education, to include facilities for training and Market Town Town Market competitive play, appropriate to the needs of the on-site sports.
All other pitch sites to have a minimum of toilet provision on site.
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Recommendations – Future Playing Pitch Provision
Type of Playing Pitch Provision Quantity and Quality (available for community access) Catchment Area
Quality Quantity Settlement Type Type Settlement
20 mins travel Good Quality At least one playing pitch site per village time for all pitch (es) cluster/large village which can accommodate residents football and or cricket/rugby.
Small sided floodlit MUGA for training/floodlit grass area for training.
Minimum ancillary provision of toilets on site. Village Cluster/Large
The above standards should achieve the minimum following levels of playing pitch provision across Shropshire and in each sub area; these provision levels do not take into account the need to rest, rotate and maintain pitches on an ongoing basis.
Future Quantity Standards Required Playing Pitch Provision – available for community use (by 2020) Pitch Type North Central South Sub Shropshire Sub Sub Area Area Area Mini Soccer 34.8 10.6 13.2 15.8 Youth Football 55.9 18.5 25.4 23.5 Senior Football 53.9 14.1 30.4 12 Cricket 53.1 18.3 12.2 22.2 Rugby 36.1 16 12 13.5 AGP (full size) 7.18 2.7 1.3 3.3 N.B Numbers for sub areas may not equate to overall Shropshire figures due to rounding
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Artificial Grass Pitches (AGP)
10.3 The key priorities identified for hockey from the playing pitch assessment include:
AGP1 The ideal need for another AGP in the South sub area. In addition dedicated training facilities for football and Rugby Union would reduce where and tear on natural turf pitches.
AGP2The audit has identified a number of sand dressed/filled AGPs not demanded for community hockey. Given the outcome of the assessment these are not likely to be needed in the future. It is therefore recommended that testing the feasibility of transforming some of these sites to 3G be undertaken. This will depend on decisions around the use of 3G pitches for football matches and the range of uses currently required by the respective facility owners (many of the facilities are on school sites).
Area Priorities
10.4 The priorities and recommendations to address by area and by sport are detailed below:
Table 10.1 Sub Area Future Playing Pitch Provision Priorities PITCHES AT CAPACITY CURRENT CURRENT FUTURE ON BASIS OF SUB AREA PITCHES AT DEFICIENCY DEFICIENCY PROJECTED TEAM CAPACITY GROWTH Cricket Rugby Mini Soccer NORTH Rugby Mini Soccer Hockey Cricket Hockey Mini Soccer Youth Mini Soccer Youth Football Football Cricket CENTRAL Rugby Cricket Rugby Hockey Hockey Mini Soccer Mini Soccer SOUTH Cricket Cricket Hockey Hockey
6.95 In considering the summary conclusions for rugby in all sub areas, it is important that the following scenarios are taken into account, and in particular Scenario 2; the RFU has confirmed that this more accurately reflects the actual situation for rugby in Shropshire.
Scenario1 – All demand and All Supply
6.96 The audit has identified a total of 62 (48 with community use) pitches in the Figure 6.5 above. Total demand generated by clubs and schools is estimated to be equivalent to 133 (103 community teams and 30 schools (secondary and independent)) senior team equivalents. Factoring in this demand the overall average number of games per week increases to 66.5 (community teams – 53 games). While most of this is accommodated during the week, additional wear and tear is placed on the available supply.
6.97 The analysis completed indicates that even including additional demand generated by school teams, current pitch provision is on the whole sufficient to cater for demand except in the Central sub area. However, the capacity of pitches is critical in meeting this demand, given that the current surplus in the North is marginal, and that in the South is not much greater. Generally across Shropshire pitches need to cater for 2 or more games per week to service demand. This relies on pitches being of adequate quality to accommodate this. In the South sub area pitch quality is significantly poorer than in the North and Central sub areas; this factor impacts on the capacity of the overall pitch stock which could increase if pitch quality were improved.
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Scenario 2 – Matches and Training Capacity
6.98 This scenario takes account of all the floodlit pitches in use and includes training demands on these where applicable. This increases the overall demand for pitches to the equivalent of 163 games per week including the demand identified in Scenario 1.Training use of pitches, based on the estimates provided increases demand by around 30 games per week (based on training usage of floodlit pitches by all clubs for a minimum of 3 teams per week)
6.99 Across the whole stock of pitches this increases the number of games per pitch to 3.8 games overall. This figure is much higher in the sub areas of high demand ie the North and Central areas which also have large clubs to accommodate. As with Scenario 1, the additional use of pitches (much of which is midweek) when factored in has little impact on the peak demand for pitches for club rugby over the weekend. However, it does increase the use of pitches overall in terms of the number of games to be accommodated. Analysis completed indicates an increase in the required capacity of pitches across the 3 sub areas to meet demand (in the South sub area, ‘good’ quality pitches are used more frequently. This is unlikely to be a long term sustainable situation even where pitches are of exceptional quality
Scenario 3 – All demand and Accessible Supply Only
6.100 This scenario takes account of the pitches in community use only (as summarised in the overall modelling) and the demand as identified in Scenario 2 above. In effect this scenario provides the ‘worst case’ scenario, by including all demand generated by community teams and team equivalents generated from training and school demand, and assessing this against available supply only.
6.101 Using just the accessible supply assessed against demand, there are a number of changes to surplus and deficiencies and the theoretical level of use that pitches have to accommodate. There is a current deficiency in the Central sub area, and a deficit of rugby pitches to meet future demand in the Central and North sub areas. Adding the additional pitch requirements for training, and school use increases both identified current and future deficits in rugby pitch supply. It would also mean that there is deficit in current and future provision across Shropshire, even if all available pitches were used to train, play matches and accommodate school use. This situation is emphasised by the fact that some Shropshire rugby players currently travel out of the area to play eg players from the former South Shropshire district travel out of Shropshire to play at Luctonians at all age levels.
Scenario 4 – Pitch quality and capacity
6.102 The results of the quantitative assessment need to be considered alongside quality issues, as quality will affect the capacity of pitches to accommodate games. The quality audit suggests the quality of community use rugby pitches is generally poor (only 22.9% are rated as good across Shropshire). The poor quality of rugby pitches in the South sub area impacts on the overall capacity in that area. In addition, in the South sub area the issue of flood risk needs to be considered in relation to both Bridgnorth and Ludlow Rugby Clubs.
6.103 Club pitches vary in terms of quality overall, but may appear to be of a better quality because the presence of changing rooms at most sites boosts scores by 15%. In the case of 28 pitches (predominantly in the South sub area), the ratings suggest they are on the ‘boundary’ between ‘average’ and ‘poor’.
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6.104 The analysis completed suggests that of the 62 pitches currently available only the 11 (22.9%) rated as good have the potential to accommodate 2 games per week i.e. a total of 22 matches. The ‘good’ scores for rugby pitches in Shropshire are high and some nearly ‘excellent’. Less than 255 of all pitches in community use are supporting very heavy match use, because other available pitches are of poor quality. If any ‘good’ pitches were taken out of use there would be an impact on capacity to meet demand for rugby pitches, and particularly if ‘good’ pitches were lost in the Central and/or North sub areas.
Scenario 5 – Localised issues
6.105 It is recognised that because rugby is focussed around key club sites, it is important to identify localised supply and demand issues relating to these. The audit has identified potentially ‘spare’ pitches in relation to those that do not currently accommodate community use. However, these are not of value to clubs if they are in the wrong away or ideally part of the club set up. The following issues and challenges are highlighted:
Shrewsbury RFC would like to expand further and has the capability to do so but not the capacity, given the lack of pitches to meet current demand
Oswestry RFC needs support and external assistance to improve the pitch facilities atb their club
Clee Hill RFC have developed their pitch facilities but need to increase the capacity of their changing provision
There is a surplus of pitches in the South sub area despite 6 teams playing in this area; this surplus capacity may reflect the poor quality of many of the pitches 71.4% (15 of 21) in this sub area. Poor quality pitches include: Severn Park, Bishops’s Castle RFC, Bridgnorth RFC, Highley RFC, Church Stretton Playing Fields, Ludlow RFC, Clee Hill RFC, Sparc Centre, Ludlow College,
North Sub Area
Football
10.5 Quantity and quality are key issues. Recommendations are to:
Recommendations – North Sub Area
N1 Re-designate existing senior football pitches to mini soccer pitches; focus should be in and around Oswestry, Whitchurch and other market towns.
N2 Improve the quality of existing mini, youth and senior football pitches; multi-pitch sites are the priority, located in market towns.
Cricket
10.6 There is a future deficiency of cricket pitches and quality of existing pitches and changing facilities could be improved.
N3 Develop additional cricket pitch facilities; the priority should be opening up existing pitches on school sites, and securing community access.
N4 Improve the quality of existing cricket pitches and ancillary facilities, working with clubs as appropriate. www.scottwilson.com www.strategicleisure.co.uk 91 Shropshire Council Playing Pitch Strategy 2010 - 2020
Rugby
10.7 There will be a future deficiency of rugby pitches in the North sub area.
N5 Develop additional rugby pitches to meet projected future demand; the priority should be to open up access to existing pitches eg on school sites, or to create new pitches by re-marking existing senior football pitches.
N6 Improve the quality of existing pitches and ancillary accommodation.
Hockey
10.8 There will be a future deficiency of hockey pitches in the North sub area.
N5 Develop additional hockey pitches to meet projected future demand; the priority should be to open up access to existing pitches eg on school sites, or to create new pitches in partnership with education as part of school site improvement.
N6 Improve the quality of, and access to, existing pitches and ancillary accommodation.
Central Sub Area
Football
10.9 Quantity and quality are key issues. The assessment has highlighted a surplus in provision of senior football pitches; it is important to stress that this surplus is theoretical and the data needs to be reviewed on a regular basis to avoid potential loss of pitches, based solely on a numerical assessment.
10.10 Recommendations are to:
Recommendations – Central Sub Area
C1 Re-designate existing senior football pitches to youth soccer pitches; focus should be in and around Shrewsbury, and particularly the NW, E and SE of the town.
C2 Seek to increase the number of mini soccer pitches to address future capacity issue, by re-marking senior pitches and marking additional pitches where possible on existing sites.
C3 Improve the quality of existing mini, youth and senior football pitches; multi-pitch sites are the priority, located in market towns.
Cricket
10.11 There is a future capacity issue in relation to cricket pitches and the quality of existing pitches and changing facilities could be improved.
C4 Develop additional cricket pitch facilities; the priority should be opening up existing pitches on school sites, and securing community access.
C5 Improve the quality of existing cricket pitches and anciallery facilities, working with clubs as appropriate.
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Rugby
10.12 There will be a future deficiency of rugby pitches in the Central sub area.
C6 Develop additional rugby pitches to address projected future deficit; the priority should be to open up access to existing pitches eg on school sites, or to create new pitches by re-marking existing senior football pitches.
C7 Improve the quality of existing pitches and ancillary accommodation.
Hockey
10.13 There will be a future deficiency of hockey pitches in the Central sub area.
C5 Develop additional hockey pitches to meet projected future demand; the priority should be to open up access to existing pitches eg on school sites, or to create new pitches in partnership with education as part of school site improvement.
C6 Improve the quality of existing pitches and ancillary accommodation.
South Sub Area
Football
10.14 Quantity and quality are key issues. Recommendations are to:
Recommendations – South Sub Area
S1 Re-designate existing senior football pitches to mini soccer pitches ; focus should be around Ludlow, Church Stretton and other market towns.
S2 Improve the quality of existing mini, youth and senior football pitches given the current poor quality of much of the existing provision; multi-pitch sites are the priority, located in market towns.
Cricket
10.15 There is a future deficiency of cricket pitches and quality of existing pitches and changing facilities could be improved.
S3 Develop additional cricket pitch facilities; the priority should be opening up existing pitches on school sites and securing community access.
S4 Improve the quality of existing cricket pitches and ancillary facilities, working with clubs as appropriate.
Rugby
10.16 There are no significant quantity issues for future provision of rugby pitches in the South area.
S5 Develop additional rugby pitches as required to address any developing capacity issues; the priority should be to open up access to existing pitches eg on school sites, or to create new pitches by re-marking existing senior football pitches.
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S6 Improve the quality of existing pitches and ancillary accommodation.
Hockey
10.17 There will be a future capacity issue for hockey in the South sub area.
S7 Develop additional hockey pitches to address capacity issues; the priority should be to open up access to existing pitches eg on school sites, or to create new pitches in partnership with education as part of school site improvement.
S8 Improve the quality of, and access to, existing pitches and ancillary accommodation.
Management of Information and resources
10.18 Key issues identified through the research process include the management of information relating to playing pitches, the ability to access this and the use of evidence in making investment decisions. There is currently no central (and up to date) database of pitch facilities and no formal means of keeping this up to date. The establishment of a cross directorate Playing Pitch Strategy Group is important to guide and facilitate implementation of the PPS to share information and make decisions on the way forward, using the PPS framework.
10.19 It is therefore recommended that:
Recommendations - Management of Information and resources
Recommendations – Management of Information and resources
The research outputs are used to create and maintain a central data base of all pitch M1 facilities in Shropshire, their quantity, quality, use, and site issues. All key stakeholders should have access to this to assist with the recommendations below.
The research outputs are used as a formal Section 106 funding strategy (with consensus from Stakeholders) to ensure monies are identified in areas of most need. If possible M2 Section 106 policies should allow for allocation within a specific sub area. An SPD should also be developed, specifically covering playing pitch provision.
Booking systems and processes need to reviewed and simplified to promote consistency for hirers and equitable practices across the county (in relation to all SC provision). This M3 could include testing the feasibility of a Central Booking System to encompass some school facilities also. Any bookings policy and process needs to be clearly publicised and accessible for all.
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Recommendations – Management of Information and resources
Linking with M3 a review of pricing policy should be undertaken to ensure consistency M4 across the county for SC provision. Pricing needs to be linked to the quality and offer of facilities. Consideration may need to be given to some prioritisation criteria for bookings by key clubs/organisations linked to sports development targets.
Linked to the above recommendations, there is a need to provide a ‘service guarantee’ to M5 pitch users in terms of what level of service, grounds maintenance and overall quality of offer should be expected and who to contact with issues.
Given the findings of the assessment, and severe shortages in football in particular, a formal policy on Community Asset Transfers (CAT) and criteria need to be developed. This should consider the suitability of a club who want to take on the responsibility, clear sports development benefits (i.e. it will enable the club to develop and offer/provide more opportunities) and demonstrate clear potential for site enhancement (or maintenance of M6 current standards) and access to funding opportunities.
It is suggested that CAT is more suitable in areas where there is adequate or surplus provision, i.e. the Council is not in a position to need to meet new demand. Leasing sites will reduce the stock it has to hire to teams, which could be an issue in relation to youth and mini football until pitches are re-marked.
The Playing Pitch Strategy Group is maintained to keep the pitch assessment and improvement process ‘live’ and ensure a multi-sport approach to facility development. This should be extended to include the minor sports assessed. The priorities identified for minor sports should be considered as part of ongoing discussions. The core Group should comprise representatives from SC planning and leisure, Sport England (West Midlands region), Energize CSP, and NGBs (as appropriate), Other relevant stakeholders eg M7 clubs/schools should be invited to attend as appropriate.
The Group should meet bi-annually and also whenever there is a specific playing pitch issue to discuss through the planning process. The Group should also take ownership of the Action Plan and should work with partners towards implementation of its recommendations.
Discussion is held around sanctioning local football league matches to be played on 3G pitches should be considered. The FA is already investigating this with local league M8 secretaries in other parts of the West Midlands. Given the findings of the assessment completed, and the extent of future need for playing pitches, more thought might be needed to how pitch facilities are provided for some sports.
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Recommendations – Management of Information and resources
Discussion is held with NGBs, schools and SC around creative options to better manage M9 access to sites currently without secured community use – this might include a team of ‘roaming’ facility co-ordinators to open/close school facilities at weekends
Discussion is held on acceptable standards of changing room provision – given the scale of the deficiencies identified and the likely capital investment requirements, consideration M10 should be given to more temporary accommodation i.e. ‘metal container’ style facilities. These are successfully used in other local authorities and might offer an interim solution for some sites.
Specific work is undertaken with the FA to develop an agreed minimum level of ancillary M11 provision i.e. toilets appropriate for sites with mini and youth pitches
The information from the PPS is included in the developing Place Plans, as part of the overall LDF process; this should also be recommended to Cabinet in an appropriate report.. M12 The recommendations and outcomes of the PPS are monitored on an annual basis by the PPS Strategy Group to check and evaluate progress, and review priorities.
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Action Plan
10.20 The Action Plan reflecting the recommendations made is set out below. Implementation of this by SC, partners and other stakeholders over the next 10 years will address the identified quantity and quality deficiencies in Shropshire’s playing pitch provision. The Action Plan is a living document which will be ‘owned’ by the PPS Strategy Group; this Group will take responsibility for implementing the recommendations, in partnership, as appropriate.
RECOMMENDATION ACTION
R1
Re-designate existing good quality surplus senior football pitches to junior and mini pitches to address the current and future deficits in this type of provision, and realise a stock of high quality, high carrying capacity pitches. Based on the PPG17 assessment re-considering whether all existing senior football pitches continue to be marked as such also provides the opportunity to de-classify some existing pitch sites and retain as green space in for a range of informal uses, and potentially future pitches as demand requires.
The type of senior football pitch that would be a priority for re-designation to mini or junior provision would be a good quality pitch, preferably multi-pitch or with the potential to become so, ideally with provision for training ie synthetic surfaces, served by at minimum toilets suitable for junior and mini players.
R2
Use the findings of the assessment together with the Quality / Value matrix to prioritise investment in playing pitches and ancillary facilities as per Figures 8.6 and 8.5 (Section 8) above, in line with the identified playing pitch hierarchy.
The type of site that would be a priority for investment would be an existing good quality multi-pitch site, or have the potential to become so (multi-pitch meaning mini, junior and senior pitches for either one sport, or a range of sports, plus ideally at least synthetic training provision), have existing changing provision of reasonable quality and that meet the needs of all users ie women and girls, disability participants etc (or facilities that could become so with limited investment).
Local authority and education pitches should be considered under this category.
The type of site that could potentially be considered for rationalisation would be one with a single pitch, where a pitch(es) is poor quality, and where there is no, limited ie no provision for women and girls, or not compliant with DDA), or poor condition changing provision on site. Playing Pitch Provision If poor quality pitches can be replaced with better quality provision through either re-designation/opening up access to other existing pitches on school sites, any capital gained through sale of sites should being fenced for re-investment into pitch development and changing room improvement.
R3
Given the findings of the assessment and particularly the lack of secured community use of playing pitches and therefore the reliance on local authority facilities there is a need to strengthen and develop partnership working with private providers, Governing Bodies and neighbouring authorities; the PPS Strategy Group should be used to facilitate this. Addressing the deficiencies recorded cannot be the sole responsibility of any one agency / organisation.
R4
Explore and develop closer partnership working with education and the role of school facilities to support mini and junior sports and potentially provide additional community accessible facilities eg potentially multi-pitch sites.
There is a likely need for this recommendation to be supported by revenue funding to support additional maintenance costs and administration relating to pitch bookings.
R5
Update the supply and demand information collated as part of the study on an annual basis as part of evaluating action and delivery. A full playing pitch assessment should be repeated every 5 years or as near as possible to fit in with the area planning process. This ongoing updating and monitoring process should be facilitated through a formal Playing Pitch Strategy Group, comprising representatives from the Council (sport and leisure, education assets, planning and grounds maintenance), NGBs and Sport England.
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RECOMMENDATION
R6
Secured Community Use agreements, to an agreed specification, should be required from future school redevelopment schemes. Agreements can be required through the planning process where:
There will be a resulting loss in area or quantity of pitch provision
This will aid the achievement of PPG17’s objective of remedying local deficiencies
School playing fields are likely to have qualitative improvements, and there are identified qualitative deficiencies, whilst community use agreements should be required from future school redevelopment schemes.
R7
Subject to resources, continue to develop regular consultation with pitch users to establish trend data in relation to satisfaction, ratings of quality and common pitch issues. This could be undertaken via the pitch booking forms administered by SC to users of public football pitches, and through the Sport Development Team.
R8
Continue to work with clubs to aid club and sport development. There are clubs that have reached capacity in terms of expansion through success and would benefit from further support and assistance.
R9
All playing pitches available for community use should be of a ‘good’ quality.
R10
All changing and ancillary facilities available for community use should be of a ‘good’ quality; condition surveys on changing facilities should be undertaken at regular intervals to identify any work that may be required, e.g. additional disability access requirements and provide an estimated lifespan for the building
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RECOMMENDATION
R11
The Local Standard for playing pitch provision is:
Type of Playing Pitch Provision Quantity and Quality (available for community access)
Quality Quantity Settlement Settlement Type Catchment Area
20 mins Good Four strategically located multi-pitch sites, providing for competition and training, with good quality on-site changing and toilet provision, appropriate for, and accessible to, all travel Quality user types. time for pitches all Each site should be linked to a key youth and senior club to implement development pathways. Future policy should focus on multi-pitch site provision, potentially in residents partnership with education, to include facilities for training and competitive play, appropriate to the needs of the on-site sports. One site ie Roman Road to be designated as a hockey focus. All other pitch sites to have a minimum of toilet provision on site. Shrewsbury Shrewsbury
20 mins Good Minimum of 1 multi-pitch site providing for competition and training, with good quality on-site changing and toilet provision, appropriate for, and accessible to, all user types. travel Quality Each site should be linked to a key youth and senior club to implement development pathways. time for pitches all Future policy should focus on multi-pitch site provision, potentially in partnership with education, to include facilities for training and competitive play, appropriate to the needs residents of the on-site sports.
All other pitch sites to have a minimum of toilet provision on site. Market Town Town Market
20 mins Good At least one playing pitch site per village cluster/large village which can accommodate football and or cricket/rugby. travel Quality time for pitch (es) Small sided floodlit MUGA for training/floodlit grass area for training. all residents Minimum ancillary provision of toilets on site. Village Cluster/Large Village
The above standards should achieve the minimum following levels of playing pitch provision across Shropshire and in each sub area; these provision levels do not take into account the need to rest, rotate and maintain pitches on an ongoing basis.
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RECOMMENDATION
Figure 10.2 Future Quantity Standards Required Playing Pitch Provision – available for community use (by 2020) Pitch Type Shropshire North Sub Area Central Sub Area South Sub Area Mini Soccer 34.8 10.6 13.2 15.8 Youth Football 55.9 18.5 25.4 23.5 Senior Football 53.9 14.1 30.4 12 Cricket 53.1 18.3 12.2 22.2 Rugby 36.1 16 12 13.5 AGP (full size) 7.18 2.7 1.3 3.3 N.B Numbers for sub areas may not equate to overall Shropshire figures due to rounding
SUB AREA PRIORITIES North Sub Area
N1
Re-designate existing senior football pitches to mini soccer pitches; focus should be in and around Oswestry, Whitchurch and other market towns.
FOOTBALL
N2
Improve the quality of existing mini, youth and senior football pitches; multi-pitch sites are the priority, located in market towns.
N3
Develop additional cricket pitch facilities; the priority should be opening up existing pitches on school sites, and securing community access.
CRICKET
N4
Improve the quality of existing cricket pitches and ancillary facilities, working with clubs as appropriate.
N5
Develop additional rugby pitches to meet projected future demand; the priority should be to open up access to existing pitches eg on school sites, or to create new pitches by re-marking existing senior football pitches. RUGBY
N6
Improve the quality of existing pitches and ancillary accommodation.
N5 HOCKEY Develop additional hockey pitches to meet projected future demand; the priority should be to open up access to existing pitches e.g. on school sites, or to create new pitches in partnership with education as part of school site improvement.
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RECOMMENDATION
N6
Improve the quality of, and access to, existing pitches and ancillary accommodation.
Central Sub Area
C1
Re-designate existing senior football pitches to youth soccer pitches; focus should be in and around Shrewsbury, and particularly the NW, E and SE of the town.
FOOTBALL
C2
Seek to increase the number of mini soccer pitches to address future capacity issue, by re-marking senior pitches and marking additional pitches where possible on existing sites.
C3
Improve the quality of existing mini, youth and senior football pitches; multi-pitch sites are the priority, located in market towns.
C4
Develop additional cricket pitch facilities; the priority should be opening up existing pitches on school sites, and securing community access.
CRICKET
C5
Improve the quality of existing cricket pitches and ancillary facilities, working with clubs as appropriate.
C6
Develop additional rugby pitches to address projected future deficit; the priority should be to open up access to existing pitches eg on school sites, or to create new pitches by re-marking existing senior football pitches. RUGBY
C7
Improve the quality of existing pitches and ancillary accommodation.
C5
Develop additional hockey pitches to meet projected future demand; the priority should be to open up access to existing pitches e.g. on school sites, or to create new pitches in partnership with education as part of school site improvement. HOCKEY
C6
Improve the quality of existing pitches and ancillary accommodation.
South Sub Area
S1 FOOTBALL Re-designate existing senior football pitches to mini soccer pitches ; focus should be around Ludlow, Church Stretton and other market towns. www.scottwilson.com www.strategicleisure.co.uk 101 Shropshire Council Playing Pitch Strategy 2010 - 2020
RECOMMENDATION
S2
Improve the quality of existing mini, youth and senior football pitches given the current poor quality of much of the existing provision; multi-pitch sites are the priority, located in market towns.
S3
Develop additional cricket pitch facilities; the priority should be opening up existing pitches on school sites and securing community access.
CRICKET
S4
Improve the quality of existing cricket pitches and ancillary facilities, working with clubs as appropriate.
S5
Develop additional rugby pitches as required to address any developing capacity issues; the priority should be to open up access to existing pitches eg on school sites, or to create new pitches by re-marking existing senior football pitches. RUGBY
S6
Improve the quality of existing pitches and ancillary accommodation.
S7
Develop additional hockey pitches to address capacity issues; the priority should be to open up access to existing pitches eg on school sites, or to create new pitches in partnership with education as part of school site improvement. HOCKEY
S8
Improve the quality of, and access to, existing pitches and ancillary accommodation.
AGP1
The ideal need for another AGP in the South sub area. In addition dedicated training facilities for football and Rugby Union would reduce where and tear on natural turf pitches.
AGP’s AGP2
The audit has identified a number of sand dressed/filled AGPs not demanded for community hockey. Given the outcome of the assessment these are not likely to be needed in the future. It is therefore recommended that testing the feasibility of transforming some of these sites to 3G be undertaken. This will depend on decisions around the use of 3G pitches for football matches and the range of uses currently required by the respective facility owners (many of the facilities are on school sites).
M1 Management Information The research outputs are used to create and maintain a central data base of all pitch facilities in Shropshire, their quantity, quality, use, and site issues. All key stakeholders should have access to this to assist with the recommendations below.
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RECOMMENDATION
M2
The research outputs are used as a formal Section 106 funding strategy (with consensus from Stakeholders) to ensure monies are identified in areas of most need. If possible Section 106 policies should allow for allocation within a specific sub area. An SPD should also be developed, specifically covering playing pitch provision.
M3
Booking systems and processes need to reviewed and simplified to promote consistency for hirers and equitable practices across the county (in relation to all SC provision). This could include testing the feasibility of a Central Booking System to encompass some school facilities also. Any bookings policy and process needs to be clearly publicised and accessible for all.
M4
Linking with M3 a review of pricing policy should be undertaken to ensure consistency across the county for SC provision. Pricing needs to be linked to the quality and offer of facilities. Consideration may need to be given to some prioritisation criteria for bookings by key clubs/organisations linked to sports development targets.
M5
Linked to the above recommendations, there is a need to provide a ‘service guarantee’ to pitch users in terms of what level of service, grounds maintenance and overall quality of offer should be expected and who to contact with issues.
M6
Given the findings of the assessment, and severe shortages in football in particular, a formal policy on Community Asset Transfers (CAT) and criteria need to be developed.
This should consider the suitability of a club who want to take on the responsibility, clear sports development benefits (i.e. it will enable the club to develop and offer/provide more opportunities) and demonstrate clear potential for site enhancement (or maintenance of current standards) and access to funding opportunities. It is suggested that CAT is more suitable in areas where there is adequate or surplus provision, i.e. the Council is not in a position to need to meet new demand.
Leasing sites will reduce the stock it has to hire to teams, which could be an issue in relation to youth and mini football until pitches are re-marked.
M7
The Playing Pitch Strategy Group is maintained to keep the pitch assessment and improvement process ‘live’ and ensure a multi-sport approach to facility development.
This should be extended to include the minor sports assessed. The priorities identified for minor sports should be considered as part of ongoing discussions. The core Group should comprise representatives from SC planning and leisure, Sport England (West Midlands region), Energize CSP, and NGBs (as appropriate), Other relevant stakeholders eg clubs/schools should be invited to attend as appropriate. The Group should meet bi-annually and also whenever there is a specific playing pitch issue to discuss through the planning process.
The Group should also take ownership of the Action Plan and should work with partners towards implementation of its recommendations.
M8
Discussion is held around sanctioning local football league matches to be played on 3G pitches should be considered. The FA is already investigating this with local league secretaries in other parts of the West Midlands. Given the findings of the assessment completed, and the extent of future need for playing pitches, more thought might be needed to how pitch facilities are provided for some sports.
M9
Discussion is held with NGBs, schools and SC around creative options to better manage access to sites currently without secured community use – this might include a team of ‘roaming’ facility co-ordinators to open/close school facilities at weekends
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RECOMMENDATION
M10
Discussion is held on acceptable standards of changing room provision – given the scale of the deficiencies identified and the likely capital investment requirements, consideration should be given to more temporary accommodation i.e. ‘metal container’ style facilities. These are successfully used in other local authorities and might offer an interim solution for some sites.
M11
Specific work is undertaken with the FA to develop an agreed minimum level of ancillary provision ie toilets appropriate for sites with mini and youth pitches
M12
The information from the PPS is included in the developing Place Plans, as part of the overall LDF process; this should also be recommended to Cabinet in an appropriate report. The recommendations and outcomes of the PPS are monitored on an annual basis by the PPS Strategy Group to check and evaluate progress, and review priorities.
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