Nottingham Forest stadium expansion approved - so what now?

2026/09/19

Categories: sports

After several consecutive seasons in the top flight and a European campaign under its belt, the club now have bigger ambitions.

The new proposals, unveiled a matter of months after the old ones were rubber-stamped, do not quite mean the redevelopment has to start from scratch.

But their sheer scale does mean extra considerations for the authorities and fresh planning permission was necessary.

After all, it will involve up to 21,300 more people flocking to a part of Nottinghamshire that is already incredibly busy on a matchday - a 68% increase.

For transparency, I speak from experience as a lifelong Forest fan myself. But - believe it or not - not everyone is, and councils have to consider the impact on all residents, whether they are fans or not.

In areas close to the ground such as Lady Bay, for example, there are long-running issues with parking.

Ward councillor Richard Mallender said while he was happy to see the stadium expand, he added the volume of traffic regularly led to buses being cancelled and residents being trapped in their homes.

"We're not here to block things, we don't want to stop things," he said.

"What we want to do is make sure this really successful team have the stadium they need, but that it also works for the people who live here," he said.

He, like other councillors, support the introduction of a controlled parking zone (CPZ), which could see parking banned within a 25-minute walk of the ground for four hours either side of kick-off, except for residents and businesses.

Planning law does not require an applicant to solve existing problems unless what they are proposing is likely to exacerbate them, and so Forest are set to contribute £990,000 towards establishing the CPZ.

It is just one part of a £4.1m package aimed at getting more people to the ground without using their cars.

There is scepticism from councillors about how well this strategy - known as "modal shift" - will actually work, but it is set to be monitored by a new transport working group made up of the club, councils, and other stakeholders.

Even if a lot more people arrive by foot, however, there is the small matter of getting many of them over the River Trent.

After highways authorities rejected a proposal to permanently close two traffic lanes on Trent Bridge, managing crowd flow has become the biggest outstanding issue.

Indeed, the planning report states "the pedestrian capacity of Trent Bridge is the principal constraint on the development".

But rather than let it scupper the whole application, it has instead been made a planning condition, which states the club can proceed with the expansion provided it comes up with another solution.

This does not necessarily have to be a new pedestrian and cycle bridge, but councils either side of the river have made it clear that is their preferred option.

It has sparked fears among fans that it would mean Forest have to build a new bridge before redeveloping the stadium, potentially adding yet more years to the process.

But that is not the case.

Instead, the planning condition is structured, so the club cannot start demolition work until a new crowd flow solution - which may or may not be a bridge - has been agreed upon.

They then would not be allowed any occupancy of the stadium above the current capacity until that solution is delivered.

In other words, the club could build the stadium and the hypothetical bridge at the same time.

There is also a further provision, which allows for temporary measures for up to 18 months if the permanent solution looks set to take longer than the time it takes to rebuild the stadium.

The club has not yet said what it intends to do, but speaking earlier this week the East Midlands mayor Claire Ward seemed to suggest her office could contribute.

"If you look at where we've unlocked other opportunities in different places through investments, that's certainly within the realm of what we do, but clearly we would need to have a business case and we'd need to look at the details," she said.

Chairman of the Nottingham Forest Supporters' Trust, Asif Naidu, said the travel issues were "clearly not insurmountable".

"I think we've been open in saying we want to work with stakeholders, that includes the club, our members, and the wider supporter group to understand what can be done, how can supporters and the trust help try and overcome some of those hurdles," he said.

>> Home