Nottingham Forest stadium expansion approved – so what now?

But rather than let it scupper the whole application, it has instead been made a planning condition, which states the club can proceed with the expansion provided it comes up with another solution.

This does not necessarily have to be a new pedestrian and cycle bridge, but councils either side of the river have made it clear that is their preferred option.

It has sparked fears among fans that it would mean Forest have to build a new bridge before redeveloping the stadium, potentially adding yet more years to the process.

But that is not the case.

Instead, the planning condition is structured, so the club cannot start demolition work until a new crowd flow solution – which may or may not be a bridge – has been agreed upon.

They then would not be allowed any occupancy of the stadium above the current capacity until that solution is delivered.

In other words, the club could build the stadium and the hypothetical bridge at the same time.

There is also a further provision, which allows for temporary measures for up to 18 months if the permanent solution looks set to take longer than the time it takes to rebuild the stadium.

The club has not yet said what it intends to do, but speaking earlier this week the East Midlands mayor Claire Ward seemed to suggest her office could contribute.

“If you look at where we’ve unlocked other opportunities in different places through investments, that’s certainly within the realm of what we do, but clearly we would need to have a business case and we’d need to look at the details,” she said.

Chairman of the Nottingham Forest Supporters’ Trust, Asif Naidu, said the travel issues were “clearly not insurmountable”.

“I think we’ve been open in saying we want to work with stakeholders, that includes the club, our members, and the wider supporter group to understand what can be done, how can supporters and the trust help try and overcome some of those hurdles,” he said.