Bristol City have taken a major step forward in their plans to build a new stadium after the council agreed to a "minded to approve" decision.

After a four-and-a-half-hour meeting on Wednesday night, a seven-to-two verdict was reached in favour of the club's plans to build a new arena on the site of the Alderman Moores allotments.

Chief executive Colin Sexstone and manager Gary Johnson were in attendance at the Chambers for the meeting and the former was delighted with the outcome.

"There were a lot of contentious issues in this and emotions were going to be high," he told his club's official website.

"We understand that but overall this is very good news and we're very pleased."

The club still has to satisfy some bones of contention, namely pedestrian access to the arena and questions over the housing that will be on the site, and they will return to the council in six months to discuss those issues.