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Major work to expand Nottingham Forest’s City Ground will not start this summer, but club bosses insist they are still committed to the project. One of the main aspects of the plan is to demolish the Peter Taylor Stand and replace it with a new structure, increasing the stadium’s capacity by 5,000 seats, to 35,000.

The club have denied rumors that the plans would be scrapped, but the latest statement is understood to mean that work is now on hold until at least 2024. Forest said it is currently working on specific conditions involving “complex discussions and negotiations”. after planning. permission was granted by Rushcliffe Council (RBC) last year.

“The club’s aim is to obtain final permission once the necessary conditions have been met,” a club spokesman said in a statement. Any suggestion that this is not the case or that the club is trying to abort the process is 100 percent false.

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Part of the terms to be negotiated is the demolition and relocation of the boathouses along the River Trent, one of which is the former Britannia Rowing Club building, owned by the Nottingham Rowing Club. The bar’s manager, Andy Townsend, said the club could not invest until terms were decided.

“We store a lot of boats there, so they have to provide us with a place to supply our boats,” he said. “Everyone is waiting for what they are going to do.

“We’re in a situation where we can’t invest in the club until we know what Forest is going to do. We want him to go ahead and do it.”

The redevelopment would increase the capacity of Peter Taylor’s stand from 5,000 to 10,000, resulting in a total capacity of 35,000. The club, which boasts an impressive home record in the Premier League this season, would be left with three operational bleachers during construction work.

Nottingham Forest continued: “The (planning) resolution contained a number of specific conditions that must be met before final permission is obtained, which will allow work to begin. The club is currently working on those conditions with its adviser and the many third parties . involved.

“These conditions involve complex discussions and negotiations, many of which are necessarily carried out without prejudice. Given the circumstances, the club is not in a position to comment on them and will not do so. The process of satisfying the conditions necessarily takes time.”

RBC leader Simon Robinson said ‘the ball is in Forest’s court’, adding: “The whole schedule is with Forest so as authority we have given them permission but we require conditional planning. Therefore, they have to present several legal documents, it really depends on them now.

“The ball is in their court, they have conditional planning permission and we are waiting for them what the time scale is. They have to demolish the boathouses on the Trent so we need detailed plans for how they are going to do this. It’s a lot now with Forest.”

Mick Garton, managing director of MSR Newsgroup, which runs a store near the stadium, said the redevelopment would be great for business. “It will be positive when it is done. It makes a difference to be in the Premier League,” he said.

“When it’s finally finished it would be great, it’ll be nice to have the benefit of having the builders there and then the extra capacity of the fans. It’s also been good for the shops in the city as we find a lot of supporters from the clubs of the Premier League will come and spend a weekend.

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