Yahoo News Second new Nottingham Forest stadium site discussed on top of City Ground and Toton options
Nottingham City Council leader David Mellen has explained why he believes Nottingham Forest moving from the City Ground to a new stadium on an industrial piece of land on the opposite side of the River Trent is not a viable option.
The Reds and the council have currently hit a stalemate over talks about a new lease for the club at the City Ground, while it is understood Forest are being offered the chance to buy the land on which their stadium sits from the council for a figure in the region of £10m. The club’s chairman, Tom Cartledge, has also confirmed “due diligence” was being done on “several” alternative sites, including in Toton.
Forest fans have made it clear to owner Evangelos Marinakis they want the club to stay at the City Ground. Marinakis was present as Reds supporters chanted ‘stand up for the City Ground’ and ‘Toton's a s***hole, I want to stay here’ during the first half of their Premier League clash against Chelsea on home soil on Saturday evening.
READ MORE: £10m City Ground deal offered in major Nottingham Forest stadium twist
READ MORE: Evangelos Marinakis sent strong message about future of City Ground
Speaking to The Athletic, Mellen discussed a different site on the other side of Notts County’s Meadow Lane stadium, which he does not consider to be a viable site for a new stadium.
“The land has our (Eastcroft) incinerator on it and that would have to be re-provided, at tens of millions of pounds, somewhere else,” he said. “That incinerator currently runs a heating system which heats 5,500 houses in the Sneinton and St Ann’s districts. Many buildings in the city centre have mains running out of that site. So it’s not just a free piece of land where we can shift everything across. It’s running vital services to the city. Potentially, they could be moved, but that would probably be more costly than the lease we are asking for.”
Forest’s existing lease on the City Ground site has 33 years left on it and the council are said to want to increase the rent to £1 million from £250,000.
