Forest chairman sees 'light at the end of the tunnel' for City Ground expansion plans

THERE is ‐light at the end of the tunnel‐ in Nottingham Forest's bid to expand the City Ground’s capacity to more than 50,000, says Reds chairman Nicholas Randall.

- By JOSEPH CONNOLLY

How the City Ground could look from the Trent once expanded, according to the latest iteration of plans

Expansion plans have been in the works since 2019, at which point the idea was to only modestly increase the size from its current 30,445 seats to about 35,000.

Multiple setbacks and revisions have taken place since then, including Covid-19 curtailing the original plan, a row with Nottingham City Council over the lease of the ground, and a rethink of how big the stadium needs to be.

The latest proposals, submitted in January, are for a complete overhaul of the ground, including the demolition of the Peter Taylor Stand, with the goal of ultimately hosting 52,500 fans.

The club, who were promoted to the Premier League in 2022 and reached the semi-finals of the Europa League this season, are now awaiting what they hope will be the final granting of permission required from Rushcliffe Borough Council.

Mr Randall, reappointed as chairman in October 2024, after a six-year stint at the club, said it appeared the end of the process was near when he spoke at the UK Real Estate, Investment and Infrastructure Forum (UKREiiF) in Leeds this week.

He said: ‐In order to sustain what we have built so far, we need a world-class stadium. We need significant capacity.