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Sheffield Local Plan
Sheffield’s Green Belt has long been a defining feature of the city, offering a vital barrier against unchecked urban expansion. It safeguards open spaces for clean air, wildlife, farming, and leisure – elements that help make Sheffield the Outdoor City and the greenest city in the UK.
However, the Green Belt now faces an uncertain future. At a full council meeting on Wednesday 14th May 2025, Sheffield City Council discussed plans to potentially release Green Belt land for development. The vote resulted in 45 councillors supporting the proposal, 31 opposing it, and 4 choosing to abstain.
Naturally, proposed developments on Green Belt land have stirred significant local debate. Lots of people care deeply about Sheffield’s Green Belt. It’s more than just countryside; it’s the green spaces near our homes where we walk the dog, take the kids to explore, or just escape the rush of daily life.
Generations have fought to protect it. Now, with big decisions being made, people are speaking up once again to make sure these precious places aren’t lost.
Have your say
Sheffield residents were recently invited to share their views on proposed revisions to the draft Sheffield Plan, which has now been submitted to the Government for public examination. The proposals included potential development sites located within the Green Belt.
The six-week public consultation period has now ended and all feedback will be forwarded to the appointed Government Inspectors for review.
Our response
We welcomed the opportunity to share our views on the proposed amendments to the draft Sheffield Plan, which outline potential housing and employment developments within the Green Belt. Our full response to the Sheffield Local Plan Consultation is available to read.
Next steps
The Government Inspectors will review all comments and hold public hearings in the autumn. A draft programme indicates that hearings will take place on 30th September, 1st October, 2nd October, 14th October, 15th October, 16th October and 17th October (reserve session, which may be used if earlier sessions overrun).
Please note that this programme is provisional and subject to change. The division and timings of the hearings will be reviewed in early August, following the close of consultation on the Council’s proposed additional site allocations. Relevant documents are available on the Council’s website.
A final decision is expected in 2026.
About the potential developments
You can use the Google Map below and click on the purple and black markers to learn more about the proposed developments on Green Belt land.
Housing sites (<1,000 homes) in the Green Belt are now being considered after an updated assessment: during the Local Plan Examination, the Inspectors asked the Council to expand the scope of the original integrated impact assessment (IIA) to include housing site options (<1,000 homes) in the Green Belt, on the grounds that this is a reasonable alternative strategy option and should therefore be subject to appraisal (the original IIA only considered strategic Green Belt releases of over 1,000 homes). The IIA has been updated to reflect the Inspectors’ request.
The 14 proposed sites could provide nearly 4,000 new homes and over 67 hectares of employment land; the sites provide an estimated capacity for 3,948 dwellings and 67.35 ha of employment land.
Most new sites would be in the North and Southeast of Sheffield; 69.78% of the proposed housing sites are in the north and southeast of the city, with the largest proposed site at Handsworth Hall Farm for 870 homes.
Eight of these sites would be classified as ‘strategic’ under the Sheffield Plan; which means they have capacity for over 200 new homes or are over 4 hectares.
New planning applications for the sites would have to follow similar requirements to the NPPF ‘Golden Rules’; planning applications on any site allocations that were formerly Green Belt land would be subject to Local Plan policy which is similar to the ‘Golden Rules’ which were introduced by the new NPPF. These ‘Golden Rules’ have introduced specific enhanced requirements in relation to the provision of affordable housing, infrastructure and open space.
Green Belt land used for housing must deliver more affordable homes than non-Green Belt areas: The draft Sheffield Plan policy proposes setting a 30% requirement in the southwest, south and northwest of the city and a 10% requirement in all other areas. However, under the NPPF, on former Green Belt land the requirement would be for at least 50% of the housing to be affordable, unless this would make the development of these site unviable.
Some boundary adjustments would be made to ensure a logical and defensible Green Belt; The allocation of some of the sites would necessitate further alterations to the Green Belt boundary in order to create a logical and defensible Green Belt boundary.
Overall, 3.6% of Sheffield’s Green Belt would be removed; The current total area of the Sheffield Green Belt is 9,061 hectares. The amendments to the boundary proposed in this report would result in 327.45 hectares being removed from the Green Belt.
Measures to manage increased recreational pressure on the National Park are in discussion; recreational pressure within the National Park is expected to increase, so a range of mitigation measures have been discussed with the National Park Authority with a view to working jointly with other stakeholders on a mitigation strategy.
Public rights of way on former Green Belt land would be preserved, ensuring continued access; Where public rights of way currently exist on land to be removed from the Green Belt for development, conditions on development will ensure that these are maintained and that access into the wider Green Belt remains.
