Forest Academy Car Park: 44 Spaces Built Before Permission

Nottingham Forest has applied for permission for a 44-space car park at its academy in West Bridgford. The car park has already been built.

The application, 26/01606/FUL, is retrospective. The club’s application form says work started on 17 November 2025. Rushcliffe Borough Council validated it on 23 September, and comments close on Monday 19 October. (Rushcliffe planning portal, 26/01606/FUL)

What has been built

The car park sits inside the club’s academy grounds off Gresham Close, in the Compton Acres ward. The planning documents describe it this way:

• 44 spaces, each about 3 metres by 5 metres, on a site of 2,055 square metres
• reached from the academy’s existing main driveway, behind the hedge that lines it
• a bound macadam surface draining to a soakaway on site
• no external lighting
• new hedges planned around the other sides to screen it from the training fields

The application form says the land had no parking spaces before. The flood report describes it as greenfield before the car park was built.

The club’s case: fewer cars on nearby streets

The club’s planning agent, IBA Planning, sets out the reasoning in a covering letter to the council dated 21 September. (Design and access statement)

It says on-street parking has been “a continued point of frustration for the Club’s residential neighbours over the years”. The new spaces, it says, are meant to take that pressure off surrounding streets.

The letter also makes these claims:

• the car park adds no extra players, matches or staff to the site
• it will not bring any extra trips, and may cut drop-off journeys
• no training or playing pitch is lost

It points out that the council approved parking in the same spot in March 2022, as part of a larger academy scheme, 21/03099/FUL.

The playing field question

The land is still classed as part of the academy’s playing fields under Sport England’s guidance. The letter says it has not been used for training “in recent years”.

Building on a playing field is normally resisted. The club argues the car park meets one of Sport England’s exceptions, because it supports the main sporting use of the site. It says Sport England did not object to parking here in 2022, and the letter expects it to stay supportive this time.

Flood risk

Like much of West Bridgford, the site sits behind the Environment Agency’s Trent flood defences. A flood risk assessment by ADC Infrastructure goes with the application. It puts the River Trent about 430 metres north of the car park and the Greythorne Dyke about 230 metres to the north west. (Flood risk assessment)

What happens next

The application will be decided by council officers, not the planning committee, unless that changes. The council’s target date for a decision is 18 November.

A retrospective application is judged on the same planning merits as any other. If it were refused, the council could then consider enforcement.

What it means for you

• If you live near Gresham Close, this is the scheme meant to ease parking on your street. You can say whether it has.
• Comments close on Monday 19 October. Use the “Comments” tab on the application page, quoting 26/01606/FUL.
• Comments must be about planning, such as parking, traffic, flooding, noise or the loss of playing field.

For other applications near you, see our West Bridgford planning news page. Forest’s much larger plans for the City Ground were approved in September.