The main opponents of Brighton and Hove Albion’s new £65 million stadium at Falmer will not fight the revised plans.

Lewes District Council is not expected to raise any objections to the latest application the club has submitted to Brighton and Hove City Council for the 22,500-seat scheme.

The soaring price of steel and changes to stadium building regulations during years of delays to the project meant changes had to be made to the design first lodged in 2001.

The move raised fears that opponents would again try to derail Albion’s plans.

But Lewes council officers have recommended to its planning committee that the council raises no objection.

An agenda for a forthcoming meeting reads: “It is considered the changes to the design of the stadium would be subsumed within the overall and would not significantly affect its overall appearance and impact on its surroundings.”

Falmer Parish Council and the Sussex Downs Joint Committee have said they will object but Paul Samrah, chairman of the Falmer For All campaign, said Lewes Council’s move was good news for the club.

He said: “I think it is agreed by all that we are not in public inquiry territory again, so it is welcome that Lewes is not likely to object.

“The other objectors will be very isolated so, without counting our chickens, it is clear we are finally on our way to our new home.”

Changes to the original design include an increase in the internal area to cater for wider staircases and concourses, grass-topped chalk bunds scrapped in favour of blockwork walls and a metal roof, a tubular steel arch replaced with a trussed design and chalk excavated from the Village Way site to be spread on a nearby field.

Falmer Parish Council chairman Melanie Cutress has told the district council: “There are a very large number of changes made in this application which propose to considerably alter the appearance and nature of the stadium.”

She said the tubular arch will make the building “less attractive” and opposed the chalk being spread on Village Way South. But the club says spreading the chalk instead of removing it will save 22,000 lorry trips in just four months.

Lewes council’s planning applications committee will discuss the plans on Wednesday.