Senior officials warned today that the city's hopes of being chosen to be part of the campaign are being undermined if it is not resolved quickly, with the Leader of the City Council attacking his County Council counterpart for her "dishonest" support for Nottingham's 2018 World Cup bid .

The tension between the heads of the two Councils increased after a meeting to discuss the details of a proposal to build a new stadium at Gamston.
 

The ground, which would become the new home of two-time European Cup winners Nottingham Forest, is a central part of the World Cup bid currently under discussion with the Football Association.
 

The Nottingham bid team, which includes representatives of the City, County and Rushcliffe Councils, as well as Nottingham Forest, decided Gamston was the only viable option after a study concluded the City Ground could not be redeveloped to World Cup standard, which requires a minimum capacity of 40,000 and several other world-class facilities.

But Kay Cutts, the Leader of the Nottinghamshire County Council, has objected to development at Gamston.

Talks with Jon Collins, the Leader of the Nottingham City Council, and officers, planners and architects who have conducted a feasibility study on the issue failed to convince her to change her mind.
 

Cutts said: "We are united in our ambition to bring the World Cup to Notts so that our county and city can win.

"That will mean being creative, ambitious, determined, and focused on winning.

"We are all now clear that the County Council will not accept a stadium at Gamston.
 

"We must focus on how we can make a stadium work on the existing Forest site or within the City Council's boundaries.

"We have agreed to say nothing more until we have agreed a way forward."

But Collins claimed he had a different recollection of the meeting.

He said: "It was explained by Nottingham Forest and the architects, planners and council officers that have been involved for the last four months in developing the bid, that the Gamston site was the only realistic option available for the development of a FIFA-compliant stadium that would meet the FA's approval, provide a home for the club.

"Architects explained in great detail to Councillor Cutts how repeated studies of the City Ground showed it was impossible to build a FIFA-compliant stadium on the site.
 

"This has also been fully accepted and endorsed by the FA during their recent visit."

Collins warned the County Council was putting the World Cup bid at "grave risk".

Nottingham is one of 16 cities and towns across England bidding to be part of the 2018 World Cup bid.

The FA is due to announce up to 12 venues in December.

Collins  said: "To proclaim support for bringing the World Cup to Notts while ruling out the only means of achieving this is fundamentally dishonest."

Mark Arthur, the chief executive of Nottingham Forest, meanwhile, has said that the City Ground is not capable of hosting World Cup matches and that the 2018 bid presents a "once in a lifetime opportunity" for the club and city.



He said: "While we have reviewed, along with local authorities, other possible sites over recent years, including Holme Pierrepont, it was felt that the only realistic place was to relocate to a site South East of the A52 which has been referred to as Gamston (pictured).
 

"Throughout the whole process we have received fantastic support from Jon Collins and his team at the City Council and Neil Clarke and his team at Rushcliffe Borough Council.

"They both understand the strength of this unique opportunity at a time when Nottingham is looking to enhance its reputation as the capital of the East Midlands.

"They are mindful, too, of the competition for the bid that comes from both Derby and Leicester."

Arthur claims that the project is only in doubt because of Cutts.
 

He said: "It is clear to us all that Councillor Cutts, who has only recently come to power, has no interest in football.
 

"Let me make it very clear that this is not a political debate between city and county or between Labour and Conservative.

"From a Forest point of view we will continue to work with the City Council and Rushcliffe Borough Council to bring the World Cup to Nottingham and explore the opportunity of the football club relocating to Gamston - with or without the County Council's support.
 

"The County Council owns only a small proportion of the land that will be required for the proposed development at Gamston and it is not necessary for the stadium to be on their land.

"We will go through the due planning process and fully engage with the community in the hope of delivering a stadium of international quality to the fans and stakeholders of Nottingham and Nottingham Forest.

"The irony of this would be that the County Council's land may well also receive planning permission and produce a significant multi million pound capital receipt that the County Council can use elsewhere in Nottinghamshire.

"This is not a whim.

"We have been working on this for six years and when the World Cup bid came to light we saw it as an opportunity to benefit the football club and the people of Nottingham to move forward to an exciting future.

"We see it as a catalyst for bringing the very best facilities and events to Nottingham – something that everyone in the area should be striving to achieve."


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