Nottingham Forest stadium expansion approved - so what now?

For Nottingham Forest fans, this has been a long time coming.

The last time the City Ground saw any major redevelopment work, Stuart Pearce and Stan Collymore still played for the Reds.

With the ground regularly reaching capacity since returning to the Premier League, the club's case for expansion seems pretty clear.

But there has been talk of redevelopment for at least seven years now, and besides the addition of a temporary stand made of shipping containers and some cosmetic improvements, the stadium remains much as it was in the mid-90s.

So after all the artist's impressions and a seemingly endless series of council meetings, fans will be forgiven for asking - is it for real this time?

The approval given earlier this week is a huge step towards the plans becoming a reality.

But we have been here before - permission was granted a little over a year ago to increase capacity to 35,000.

The reason that never went ahead is simple.

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.

Crowd flow is clearly the biggest barrier to getting spades in the ground, but it is not the only one.

The plans involve demolishing the Britannia Boathouse, home to the Nottingham Rowing Club.

Forest have agreed to provide like-for-like facilities somewhere else, which the rowing club supports, but planning documents say although some alternative locations have been discussed, nothing has been confirmed yet.

And crucially, the legal agreement that has been drawn up states the current boathouse cannot be demolished until either a replacement is built, or temporary facilities are found followed by a permanent replacement within three years.

Then there is the unresolved matter of who owns the land upon which the stadium sits.

After a public row over rent two years ago, which even prompted talk of relocation from the City Ground, an agreement was eventually reached to buy the freehold from the city council.

That deal was based on the club getting permission to expand the stadium which, of course, it has now been given - twice.

But at the time of writing, I understand the deal is yet to go through and the council still owns the land.

I have heard nothing to suggest it cannot now be finalised, and I am not sure anyone at the council or club would want to reopen those wounds - but it is another point on the TBC list.

That's the £790m question.

With all the above and more still to be sorted out, no date has been set for the redevelopment to begin, so many supporters may still be thinking, they'll believe it when they see it.

A crucial difference between now and what has come before though, is that the latest plans align more closely with club owner Evangelos Marinakis's vision for the City Ground.

Speaking at a press conference ahead of Forest's home game against Coventry, head coach Oliver Glasner said he had discussed the stadium expansion with Marinakis when they met earlier in the week.

"It's great news for the club, it's great news for the city, it's great news for our supporters and I think everybody is now looking forward to when the works will start," Glasner said.

There are a lot of fans who would love to know when exactly that will be.

Listen to BBC Radio Nottingham on Sounds and follow BBC Nottingham on Facebook, on X, or on Instagram. Send your story ideas to eastmidsnews@bbc.co.uk or via WhatsApp on 0808 100 2210.