The deliberations are over: as reported on Monday, Forest Green Rovers football club is set to have a £100m new home after planners finally signed off the details for owner Dale Vince's plan to build the stadium as a "gateway to Stroud", at J13 of the M5.

In a Development Control meeting at Stroud Distict Council on Tuesday evening, the project – along with an allied bid to demolish the existing New Lawn stadium in Nailsworth and build 95 homes on the site – was unanimously backed.

Before the vote, Colin Peake, Forest Green's managing director from 1996 to 2012, told the committee he had addressed it 20 years ago about the plans for the existing Nailsworth stadium before it moved from the original New Lawn to the adjacent current site.

He said: "The club and community has been on a journey and whether you are a devotee of the game or not, very few can argue that the club has brought the world to your doorstep with what has been witnessed over the last few years."

FGR had demonstrated what can be achieved with drive and enthusiam, he said, adding: "From small acorns, great oaks grow and while I cannot guarantee that the small acorn of Newton Heath that became Manchester United could happen here, I know that the late Trevor Horsley and I dreamed of what the club could aspire to reach. It was something to me, when we had just 32 people and a dog watching when we took over. Fortunately, that is just a distant memory and what lies over the horizon no one really knows."

He added: "Whoever has ownership or takes over the running of this football club since 1889, all of us, including Dale Vince, are just temporary custodians. But each and every one of us has had the same objective, to leave it in a better place for a future generation to enjoy."

He urged councillors to look at the bigger picture: "This new iconic stadium will be a gateway to Stroud. It will make a massive statement by creating a first impression and vision of what Stroud is all about – what a difference to all those bland eyesores around motorway junctions we see all around the country; this vision will stand out from all of those."

Fans have reacted largely with relief and celebration at the news: within their forum, one wrote that he was "all for preserving countryside and wild spaces but the [parish] council objections do seem a bit spurious, some massive fields with most of the hedgerows long since grubbed up down by the motorway is not pristine olde England."

Another added it was worth remembering that "Eco Park was in the planning system before a single chimney pot appeared in the Oldbury development".

The proposed architecture will be stunning and deliver a net gain in biodiversity, another said, with minimal CO2 impact: "It will be a showpiece in the world of football and demonstrate fully the vision and values of Forest Green Rovers".

They added: "The players already train at their new pitches at J13, the construction of the stadium is the next logical step in the journey of a club founded in 1889. It will be a perfect way to celebrate FGR's 135th birthday."

On the now-agreed plan to demolish The New Lawn and build homes there, another fan said: "As a by product Nailsworth will gain almost 100 new houses, so badly needed locally by young families and to increase the nation's housing stock."

● Forest Green Rovers' owner Dale Vince and Green Britain Group are yet to issue a reaction to the news or indicate a timetable for development.