Nottingham Forest is proposing new park and ride plans for fans attending home games – in the hope of easing traffic congestion ahead of their huge planned stadium expansion.
The Reds, who were promoted to the Premier League in 2022, have long hoped to make the City Ground bigger and are in negotiations with the council to take it from its current capacity of 31,000 up to 52,500 – an increase of nearly 70%.
But as part of its application to the authority, the club has had to detail its plans to mitigate the impact of an additional influx of fans visiting the local area.
On Monday, August 3, the club published a detailed travel plan and transport strategy, explaining how it wants to implement a “multi-layered approach” to ultimately reduce the number of people coming to games in the car – and encourage them to use public transport instead.
The document includes proposals for a Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ) within an approximately 2km (1.2 mile) vicinity of the ground, to stop people from parking on nearby residential streets and blocking driveways.
Anyone parked there within four hours of kick-off or four hours after a match starts (or around two hours after full-time) would be fined.
But for those who still want to drive, even after the club has attempted to dissuade them from doing so, there are proposals to encourage them to use the city’s park and ride sites, rather than parking on the street, and to offer incentives for those who do.
The club intends to partner with tram park and ride site operators, as well as tram operator NET, to allow fans to pre-book parking spaces when booking their match tickets at a proposed cost of around £7 per car for an “all-in-one package”.
This price will guarantee a parking space at the park and ride in a designated Forest fan area and include an NET day ticket for up to four vehicle occupants (normally £5.80 each for adults), worth £22.40 if buying all four separately.
Season ticket holders would be able to book through an email link.
The club says that currently, the seven tram park and ride sites – at Clifton, the Forest, Wilkinson Street, Phoenix Park, Moor Bridge, Hucknall and Toton Lane – are not frequently used by fans because of their distance from the City Ground and because they are not advertised.
But most car parks used by Forest fans cost an average of £10, the club says, meaning fans will save at least £3 if they take advantage of the incentive.
There’s also, due to the reserved spaces, the benefit of there being no risk that the car park is full when they arrive – as may be the case with the pay-on-the-day car parks they use currently.
Documents say: “Whilst the travel time to the City Ground is slightly longer than for those who currently park very near to the stadium, it is believed that a combination of all of the above benefits will convince a notable proportion of car-based spectators to change their driving habits to use the NFFC-supported Park & Ride sites.”
The nearest tram stops to the City Ground currently are the Nottingham Station and Meadows Embankment stops.
As well as the tram sites, the club also hopes to partner with the East Midlands Combined Authority (EMCCA), which runs public transport in Nottingham, to promote the city’s two bus park and rides – at Queen’s Drive and the Racecourse.
Both currently operate on a limited schedule on Saturdays and are closed on Sundays, but the club hopes that both sites can be open for a minimum of 10 hours on matchdays, allowing fans to park for up to four hours before kick-off and six hours after.
Fans will also be able to pre-book spaces at these sites in advance, which, while costing a bit more than a tram park and ride ticket, are still proposed to cost less than a typical £10 car park, and will include up to four shuttle bus tickets.
The club wants to put shuttle buses on from both sites, with fans who’ve parked at Queen’s Drive being dropped at the pedestrian Wilford Suspension Bridge, a 12-minute walk from the ground along the River Trent, and fans who’ve parked at the Racecourse being dropped right outside the stadium in the Brian Clough Stand car park.
This is because the club wants to help ease traffic congestion on Trent Bridge from the west, and is why the club will encourage tram users to get off at Meadows Embankment rather than Nottingham Station.
The walk from there to the ground is around 30 minutes, and fans will be directed over the Wilford Suspension Bridge.
Queen’s Drive park and ride users would get back on the shuttle bus in the same place they got off, while Racecourse users would get picked up at the junction of Meadow Lane and Lady Bay bridge.
Shuttle buses would leave every 10 minutes, or when they’re full, from three hours before the match and after the match.
Regular bus services would not be affected by the proposed park and ride changes.
East Midlands Mayor Claire Ward has previously spoken about how Rushcliffe “needs a transport solution” due to its sporting offering, which includes the City Ground, and is now being marketed as the “Trent Sports District”.
She has previously mooted the idea of a tram extension to the area, and local leaders have also welcomed ideas for a water taxi up and down the River Trent to help transport fans – although neither of these ideas are included within Forest’s immediate proposals.
By Joseph Connolly (Local Democracy Reporter)
