By Paul Kelso, Sports Correspondent
The Football Association is to take responsibility for publicly-owned pitches in up to 30 English cities as part of an attempt to revive the grassroots of the game.
Under the plan, revealed by FA chairman Greg Dyke in Sheffield, the FA is aiming to raise up to £230m from the professional game, local authorities and government to double the number of full-size artificial pitches by 2020.
The plan is intended to address the declining quality of local authority pitches, which, because of spending cuts, are seldom maintained to reasonable standards, while hire costs are rising as councils attempt to balance the books.
Mr Dyke's solution to the grassroots problem is plastic pitches.
With thousands of matches scheduled for grass pitches lost every year to the weather, the FA will focus on building large numbers of artificial grass pitches (AGPs) that can be used all-year round.
They will be focused on football "hubs" in up to 30 cities, starting with a pilot scheme in Sheffield and followed by similar schemes in Liverpool and Birmingham.
"We think we are behind in this country," Mr Dyke told Sky Sports News HQ at the launch in Sheffield.
"It needs to change. Local authorities are under enormous pressure. The great advantage of these artificial pitches is that you can play 80 hours a week.
"We have a big problem in grassroots football because of facilities. I wouldn't say it's at crisis point, but we have to do something about it."
He added: "We are hoping the Government and local authorities will give us some money. We hope the Premier League and private sector will put some money in.
"The Premier League already puts money into facilities and we just hope they put some more in."
The proposals are the centrepiece of the second part of the FA Chairman's England Commission, set up last year to try to improve the long-term prospects for the England men's national team.
Mr Dyke set up the commission because of concerns over the decline in the number and quality of English footballers at the highest level.
Less than a third of players starting in Premier League teams are English, a decline that Mr Dyke believes has hampered the ability of the national team to compete.
The report focuses on the pathway for children into the game, and specifically on the quality of facilities and coaching.
The proposals for new pitches are ambitious, and could eventually see local authorities pass responsibility for pitches to local football trusts in which the FA, councils and local clubs could have a voice.
In order to fund the scheme the FA want councils to put in money they would otherwise be spending on routine pitch maintenance as a lump sum, with the government and Premier League contributing significant sums.
The FA want to increase the number of AGPs in urban areas by 130% to more than 500, and nationwide to more than 1,000.
On coaching, the FA want to recruit huge numbers of qualified instructors, tripling the number of Level 3 coaches from 800 to more than 3,000, and increasing the number of advanced level coaches from 200 to 750.
Sports Minister Helen Grant welcomed the scheme but stopped short of committing any funding.
"I am keen to see what more we can do to help further improve the nation's facility stock, putting 3G pitches in places that need them most, and I am continuing discussions with the football authorities on this front," she said.
Government critics may argue that austerity measures have contributed to the decline in local authority spending on facilities.
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