City Ground set at 80% capacity for spectators

Nottingham Forest Football Club’s spectator capacity has been increased from nil to 24,357 (80% of last season’s capacity) following a safety review by Nottinghamshire County Council.

A nil capacity had been set by the Council following an annual pre-season safety audit earlier this month when the club was unable to confirm the availability of a safety certificate holder.

A certificate holder is a legal requirement for sports clubs so the Council had no option but to restrict the club’s spectator capacity until a suitable person was found to fill the role.

Robert Fisher, Group Manager for Emergency Planning and Registration at the Council, said:

“Our priority is to ensure the safety of spectators at Nottinghamshire sports grounds and we have worked very successfully with local clubs over many years to maintain this.

“We are pleased that Nottingham Forest has now put forward a suitable person to take on the crucial role of safety certificate holder.

“However, the Council and our Safety Advisory Group partners need to be confident that the club is fully supporting the certificate holder to fulfil their role, and unfortunately a number of concerns remain.

“For example, we require evidence to demonstrate that safety matters are discussed in senior management meetings at the club.

We also await an action plan for improvements to the facilities for visiting disabled spectators and an up-to-date written safety policy outlining roles at the club.

As a consequence of this, a restriction on spectator capacity is required until these issues are resolved."

The safe capacity for the ground has been determined using an assessment process set out by the Sports Ground Safety Authority.