Forest want to add more than 20,000 seats, but getting all those extra fans to the ground is proving to be a bit of a problem

Nottingham Forest’s massive City Ground expansion could end up coming with something else pretty massive: another bridge across the River Trent.

East Midlands Mayor Claire Ward has confirmed that money controlled by the East Midlands Combined County Authority could be used to help make Forest’s plans happen.

But before you start mentally adding a shiny new bridge to the Nottingham skyline, nothing has actually been decided yet.

Forest were given permission by Rushcliffe Borough Council in September to increase the City Ground’s capacity from around 31,000 to more than 52,000.

Which is obviously great news if you’re a Forest fan desperate to actually get a ticket.

There is, however, the fairly substantial issue of what happens when another 20,000-ish people start heading towards the same bit of Nottingham on match days.

And that’s where things get complicated.

So, erm, how do you get another 20,000 people to the City Ground?

Forest originally suggested permanently sacrificing two of the six vehicle lanes on Trent Bridge, one in each direction, to create more room for pedestrians.

Nottingham City Council and Nottinghamshire County Council weren’t keen.

Instead, another idea emerged: build an entirely new bridge across the Trent.

Yes, another one.

Nottingham only got the new Waterside Bridge near Lady Bay in June.

A further crossing would potentially cost millions and would almost certainly be considerably more expensive than tinkering with the existing Trent Bridge.

But there might actually be some serious money available.

And this is where the Mayor comes in

EMCCA has around £2 billion of government transport funding to spend across Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire.

And documents published by the authority suggest some of that money could potentially be used to support development around the City Ground.

That’s because Forest’s stadium forms part of something EMCCA is calling the “Trent Sports District”.

The idea is basically to make more of the fact that three major sporting venues are clustered together: the City Ground, Trent Bridge Cricket Ground and the National Watersports Centre at Holme Pierrepont.

EMCCA’s documents say the stadium expansion creates an opportunity to improve sustainable transport not just for Forest, but for the wider area.

So could that mean paying for a great big bridge?

Possibly.

But Claire Ward isn’t committing to one just yet.

She told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “A bridge might be one of the options, but it has not been determined.”

She added: “What we will do is look to assist in terms of investment that makes this work.

“That’s why we’ve said, right from the very beginning, that part of our role as a strategic authority is to put money in that helps to deliver big opportunities like the Trent Sports District.”

The Mayor said there was “no one particular option”, adding that EMCCA’s transport committee would need oversight of any funding allocated to the scheme.

But a bridge definitely isn’t off the table

Rushcliffe Conservative councillor Matt Barney said in September that it was “highly likely” a new bridge would be required to deal with the extra Forest supporters.

And this isn’t even the only new Trent crossing being talked about.

In October, Claire Ward said she could “not rule out” another vehicular bridge in the future as part of attempts to tackle congestion around the A614 and A6097.

Those roads are already undergoing improvements as part of a scheme costing nearly £50 million.

So to recap: Forest want a much bigger stadium, Nottingham needs to work out how another 20,000 people get there, there’s potentially government transport money available to help solve the problem, and a massive new bridge across the Trent is officially one of the options.

Suddenly adding a few extra seats doesn’t sound quite so straightforward.

By Local Democracy Reporter Joseph Connelly with added gubbins by Laura Wilde