Nottingham Forest Football Club (NFFC) has unveiled plans for the construction of a new £100m stadium at Gamston as part of the city's bid to be included as a host city at the 2018 World Cup.

The proposed inclusion of the Coca-Cola Championship club's current City Ground venue will no longer be considered as a result of the new plans, which have been presented to representatives of the Football Association (FA) on a visit to the city. NFFC is working alongside Rushcliffe Borough Council, Nottingham City Council and Nottinghamshire County Council as part of the city's attempts to secure Host City status as part of the FA's bid to stage the 2018 World Cup.

Mark Arthur, NFFC chief executive, said: "After exhaustive studies of the existing City Ground, and how redevelopment of both temporary and permanent new facilities could take place on such a restricted site, the bid team have concluded, with the FA, that it is impossible to transform the ground into a fully compliant FIFA stadium fit to host World Cup matches in 2018. "Therefore, the club have sought to further evolve their plans for a 'new build' FIFA compliant stadium, but at the same time take on board the concerns expressed by local residents groups and technical experts about the location of the stadium."

Nottingham is one of 16 English cities that has expressed an interest in being a Host City for the 2018 World Cup, and it is hoped that the new stadium plans will also form part of a 'sporting legacy' of leisure facilities in the Holme Pierrepont area. However, the county council has accused the city council of acting like a "centre forward prima donna" and threatening the success of Nottingham's bid to host World Cup fixtures by announcing plans for the new stadium on green belt land owned by the county council.

Nottinghamshire County Council leader Kay Cutts said: "We are the sporting county. But simply announcing a brand new £100m football stadium in the middle of green nelt land is not what we would expect from a team player. We've made it very clear that we would only support a bid on the existing Forest site." "The city council's decision to go it alone and make this announcement to the media is unprofessional and undermines the potential success of our bid. We are a key partner in the bid and should not read about the plans in the local media."

Image: Benoy