Playing fields are an important part of the network of sports facilities and resources across Torbay. The Torbay Playing Pitch Strategy (PPS) plays a vital role in encouraging increased sporting activity, encouraging people to become more active and promoting health and wellbeing in Torbay by helping to ensure that there is a good supply of high-quality playing pitch facilities to meet the current and future needs of the area’s residents and visitors.

Torbay Council, as a major sports facility landowner, motivator and manager plays a key role in the delivery of the Strategy and a Delivery Group (comprising Torbay Council, the TDA, sports governing bodies, Sport England, local clubs, providers, schools and managers of pitches) meets on a six-monthly basis to monitor, action and help deliver change.  A wider strategy review will take place every three years.

The PPS has a forward-looking scenario to 2040 to ensure facilities and land are safeguarded if likely to be required. It has been developed following Sport England’s ‘Playing Pitch Strategy Guidance’ (October 2013) and focuses on the ‘main’ playing pitch sports of football, cricket, rugby union and hockey, together with outdoor tennis, bowls, netball, athletics and archery. The guiding principles which underpin the action plans and recommendations for monitoring and delivery are:

• Overarching Principle: Protect, Enhance, Provide
  To protect existing provision and proactively plan for and provide sufficient and appropriate high-quality pitches, facilities and opportunities (enhanced and new) to meet demand to 2040, wherever possible making the best use of facilities already available.
• Guiding Principle 1: A Framework for Management and Delivery
  To create an ongoing management and delivery framework for people and organisations to work together to share skills, expertise, resources and facilities in implementing the Strategy.
• Guiding Principle 2: Health and Well-being
  To recognise and emphasise the value of the pitch sports in contributing to enhanced mental and physical health and well-being, particularly for those still underrepresented in the pitch sports, and in helping to address socio-economic deprivation.
• Guiding Principle 3: The Environment, Decarbonisation and Climate Change
  To provide, manage and maintain facilities in such a way as to address issues of environmental sustainability and climate benefit. 
• Guiding Principle 4: Education at the Heart of the Community
  To encourage and support FE establishments and secondary and primary schools in Torbay to embrace and develop community use of their pitch sport facilities by engaging directly with them and creating a forum for discussion around access, desired improvements, management and maintenance.

In general, the strategy supports the following across all sports:

• Enhancing the quality of grass pitches for football, cricket and rugby, through improvements to drainage and/or maintenance.
• Enhancing ancillary facilities, such as changing facilities, clubhouses, toilets and car parking.
• Easing pressure on shared sites by providing additional capacity on alternative sites