Colin Sexstone says City have "crossed a big hurdle" with the Council's "minded to approve" verdict on the new stadium planning application.

After more than four-and-a-half hours, the Council's Planning Committee agreed to a "minded to approve" decision in line with their officers reports.

PLAYER: Colin Sexstone video exclusive

It was a seven-to-two majority verdict, and led to much applause from those in favour of the new stadium inside the packed Council Chamber.

Speaking seconds after the ruling, City's chief executive Colin told Player: "To get the permission in the Green Belt, albeit with some reservations, was the big hurdle to cross.

"There are other hurdles that we still need to cross, but that was the big one. We've got to be very pleased because a lot of hard work has gone into this.

"There were a lot of contentious issues in this and emotions were going to be high. We understand that but overall this is very good news and we're very pleased."

Although the stadium, hotel and Alderman Moores housing proposals were given the green light, the Council's Planning Committee did uphold their officers viewpoint that the Southlands housing shouldn't be approved.

Colin responded by saying: "We have to sit and think about it. We might have to revise that application, we might need to look at something different.

"We need to sit down and think hard before we decide what to do. It clearly could have been better still for us but overall we're pleased.

"That was a contentious decision (to mind to approve permission to build on Green Belt) and we got it through, so we should be positive about that."

He continued: "The support from our fans was fantastic. It was a long process and they stayed through to the end.

"A big thank you to everyone here tonight."

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