Premier League club’s stadium expansion plans get major boost with capacity expected to become one of England’s biggest

NOTTINGHAM Forest’s City Ground is awaiting a huge expansion with a date finally set for dramatic planning committee debate. In January, plans were submitted to boost the capacity of the famous stadium to around 52,500. The City Ground’s expansion has a date finally set for planning committee debate Credit: Shutterstock Editorial New and improved plans were submitted in January for a massive capacity boost Credit: Shutterstock Editorial And last week, three local Labour MPs published a joint statement praising the “historic opportunity” to boost the Nottingham economy. Rushcliffe Borough Council’s planning committee will now meet on September 16 at 6pm to consider the whole application over “at least two hours”. Sign up for the Football newsletter Thank you! It has been a long time coming for Forest fans who first heard of plans to expand in 2019. The argument for expansion struggled to get going until Steve Cooper‘s side secured promotion to the Premier League in 2022. In June 2025, a green light was given to flatten and rebuild the existing Peter Taylor Stand – taking capacity from about 30,000 to 35,000. According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, it was only six months later that even larger ideas surfaced with official documents submitted in January. Improved plans have been promised as concerns were raised over transport plans. A borough council spokesperson said they will still “work positively” with Forest to review everything. Most read in Sport BEST FREE BETS AND BETTING SIGN UP OFFERS Nottingham East MP Nadia Whittome, Nottingham North and Kimberley MP Alex Norris and Nottingham South MP Lilian Greenwood all put their names to the document in support of the Tricky Trees. Their joint statement read: “This is a historic opportunity to celebrate and preserve our city’s proud heritage as home to a world-famous club. “While boosting our local economy and creating well-paid, unionised jobs. “The case for a bigger stadium has been clear for years – six consecutive seasons of sold-out games have meant that many thousands of local fans cannot see their team play on home turf, including a whole new generation of young supporters. “Greater capacity will enable NFFC to host major international matches in future tournaments, strengthening our visitor economy by firmly putting Nottingham back on the map as a legendary football city.” Comment now