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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 are invited to provide feedback on proposed changes to the draft Sheffield Plan, which has been submitted to the Government for public examination. This includes potential sites that are located within the Green Belt.
The six-week public consultation is now open and will take place until 11th July 2025. The focus of this consultation is to allow representations on the soundness and legal compliance of the fourteen additional site allocations before they are submitted to the Inspectors for consideration through the Sheffield Plan Examination.
After this consultation, all feedback will be sent to Government Inspectors who will review all comments and hold public hearings. A final decision is expected in 2026.
How to Participate
To submit your comments, you’ll need to register first. Please note that your full name will be displayed alongside your comments.
You can provide feedback using one of the following methods:
- Online: Through the Council’s consultation portal – Have Your Say Sheffield
- Email: Send your representation to sheffieldplan@sheffield.gov.uk
- Post: Submit written representations or letters directly to the Council
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.
