Brighton & Hove City Council today rules on Albion's 'housekeeping' planning application for the new stadium Falmer, with council officers recommending that the planning committee members grant permission.
The application includes new plans to deposit the chalk from the excavation of the Falmer site on to Village Way South, a complete redesign of the stadium interior and changes to the roof.
Chief executive and project director, Martin Perry is confident the council's planning committee will approve the club's final stadium planning application when they meet this afternoon at 2pm.
He explained, "After seeing the report from council officers and the positive recommendation, we are very hopeful the committee will go with it and approve our application. That will mean in terms of planning permission for the stadium itself, everything will be in order.
"There are still a few bits and pieces on other parts of the site to tidy up, but they are minor and we are making progress on these and have plenty of time to sort them out. If we get approval tomorrow, it means that we are on track to go full steam ahead in April."
There are two small planning applications, already lodged with the council still to be approved. One is a very small replacement car park on the University of Brighton site, while the other is an application for a new sports hall, submitted by Brighton University in order to replace the existing one which will make way for the stadium.These are due to go to committee in April.
"Things are going well. There is an awful lot of activity on the site as fans will have already seen," continued Perry. "We had a few fans panicking when work stopped recently following a prolonged period of wet weather - and that meant work went on hold for a few days.
"Groundworks are always difficult during the winter period, and there is likely to be some disruption during that time - but the contractor has factored that into his timescale. Funding is on track, all being well on Wednesday, planning is on track, legal agreements are on track.
"Subject to permission today, this April we will begin the bulk excavation, and we'll start stripping the top soil and moving the chalk to Village Way South. By the middle of the year, fans will see the foundations beginning to appear and not long after that the steel frame will arrive with erection of the frame due to start this summer."
Supporters can watch today's planning meeting via webcam. Simply log onto the council's website and visit the webcast section.
