Nottingham Forest will have to build a new flood defence by its expanded City Ground stadium and pay for its upkeep if the major development is allowed.
The flood defence will have to be 25.17 metres above sea level, but the Environment Agency says it cannot be ruled out that the structure would have to be made even taller in future.
The Trent End at the City Ground already encroaches onto the River Trent’s riparian zone – the interface between water and dry land – and the filling in of both of the stand’s corners would increase this.
The 25.17 metre height refers to the height of the structure above a historical sea level measurement and given that the land in question already sits around 23 metres above this level, the new structure itself would likely be around two metres in height.
The Environment Agency said the development would result in a loss of channel capacity – referring to the amount of water a river can hold within its banks before spilling over onto surrounding land.
The agency therefore originally objected to Nottingham Forest’s ambitious City Ground expansion – which will take capacity from 30,000 to 52,500 – but this has been dropped after agreement was reached on the flood defence.
Further details about the flood defence have been published ahead of a crunch meeting on Wednesday (September 16), which will decide whether the expansion should go ahead.
Rushcliffe Borough Council’s planning meeting will consider the initial stage of Forest’s plans, which would increase capacity from 30,000 to 45,000 by extending the Peter Taylor Stand and filling in both corners of the Trent End.
A further extension would then take the capacity to 52,500 by extending the Brian Clough Stand – though this part of the expansion could only get outline approval at Wednesday’s meeting, meaning further details would be needed before work could begin on that element.
The Reds have said they would like the whole expansion to be complete by 2033, though a recently published agreement confirms work would not be able to start until a plan for the flood defence is in place.
The structure would sit on the bank of the River Trent by the Trent End of the stand and details of its construction will have to be submitted to both the Environment Agency and Rushcliffe Borough Council.
Completion of the structure would be expected before the stadium expansion itself was complete and Forest would then be responsible for inspecting, maintaining and repairing the flood defence at its own cost for 40 years.
The Environment Agency says the required 25.17 metre height may need to increase in future though, writing in its report: “It is considered very unlikely that this defence will need to be raised above this level during the lifetime of the development.
“However, the assessment of need for future raising is based on the information available today. This means that future raising cannot be ruled out as understanding of flood risk may change in future.”
The requirement for a flood defence plan prior to the expansion starting also comes alongside the possibility that a new Trent crossing may need to be built before work starts.
Forest fan and Nottingham councillor Steve Battlemuch previously told the Nottingham Post that he hoped all the conditions would not delay work any further – with Forest having first revealed initial plans for a stadium expansion way back in 2019.
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