Nottingham Forest’s ambitious plans to redevelop their City Ground stadium took a major step forward Wednesday night, as they were granted planning approval.
Seven years and seven months after the scheme was first
announced, the Premier League club were given the green light by Rushcliffe
Borough Council to push forward with their plans to increase the capacity of
their historic home to 45,000 in an initial phase, followed by a second phase
that would take it up to as much as 52,500.
The club intend to redevelop three of the four stands at the
stadium, but most notably the Peter Taylor Stand, which will triple in size
from holding 5,000 seats to 15,000, within a structure that would stand 58
metres tall. That is only slightly shorter than the Council House in the city’s
Market Square, where Forest celebrated promotion in 2022.
Forest also want to fill in the corners on either side of
the Trent End, joining it up with the neighbouring stands to create up to 5,000
more seats as part of that first phase of work. The full application for that,
along with all the associated works, was approved by 10 votes to one. The
second phase of the project, which would see another 7,500 seats added in the
Brian Clough Stand, was also approved by 10 votes to one.
The overall cost of the work is expected to be at least
£550 million, with Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis keen to equip the club he
has owned since 2017 with a ground that meets Champions League standards. The
Peter Taylor Stand and the Trent End would remain operational on some level
during the development works.
The club must still overcome some significant hurdles before
work can physically proceed, including producing an acceptable crowd flow
scheme, which is effectively likely to mean Forest will have to fund another
footbridge crossing over the River Trent to satisfy that requirement, within
what is called a section 106 agreement.
The biggest challenges were always going to revolve around
such a huge increase in the number of fans attending games from the regular
30,000 attendances now — particularly when it comes to such a huge number of
fans trying to make their way back across the River Trent and back into the
city centre after games. Forest initially hoped to ease this situation by
removing two of the six lanes of traffic over Trent Bridge, but those plans
were rejected, predominantly by the Highways Agency.
The only other realistic alternative would be to add another
river crossing, which would require a separate planning proposal and approval.
There are a myriad of other improvements Forest will have to
contribute towards, including £1.75 million ($2.4m) to improve bus services on
matchdays. The club will have to make a payment of £990,000 to aid the county
council in implementing parking restrictions in the surrounding area and a
payment of close to £400,000 to improve park-and-ride facilities.
A total of £170,000 is needed for canal-side development,
electronic transport information displays and e-bike docking stations. The club
will need to invest £100,000 in new signs surrounding the stadium. More than
£400,000 is required for walking and cycle path improvements.
Another stumbling block has been the rowing club’s Britannia
boathouse, which needs to be demolished and rebuilt, by Forest, in another
location. Work on the development will not be allowed to start until flood
defence plans are approved by the Environment Agency.
When the idea of moving to a new stadium in nearby Toton was mooted in 2024, the scale
of opposition underlined the historical and emotional connection the club’s
fans have to their picturesque home. There is a physical and historic
connection with their home on the banks of the River Trent.
There remain hurdles to overcome but there is now a light at
the end of the tunnel.
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