Forest Green’s New Eco Stadium Given Council Green Light

The National League club’sproposed 5,000-seat home near junction 13 of the M5 has been given the green light by the local authority.

Stroud District Council approved the plans which were submitted by owner Vince’s Ecotricity Group Limited.

The New Lawn, Rovers base since 2006, will be demolished to make way for 95 new homes.

The club say the new ground has been designed with climate change in mind and “integrates measures of energy efficiency and resilience against extreme weather conditions”.

Forest Green are pushed for an instant return to the EFL having seen their seven-year stay ended in April.

Mr Vince said: "The studies that we did for the entire concept of Eco Park, which is a 4,000 job green tech business park and the stadium and some other things will have a 20% biodiversity boost compared to today's farming background level.

"Most people think when you're building something, you're harming nature, but it doesn't have to be that way and we will prove that when we build this. And in our studies we've proven on the desktop and we'll prove it in the real world when we get the chance.

“Our goal is to get to the Championship. So the new stadium is a part of that.

"If you look at our current situation, we're constrained in terms of access, parking, power and water. On matchdays we have problems with all of those things and the new place is super accessible from the A419, the M5, and from all around the county.

“That would help us grow our crowd as we grow as a club to be a Championship football club."