Sheffield green belt: Council accused of 'failing everyone' over green belt housing plan

The council is accused of not offering any alternative to government proposals for more than 3,000 homes on 14 green belt sites in the city - and being powerless to stop them.

See the full list of sites here.

The proposals, which also include land for business, three schools and two graveyards, are required to meet government targets which state Sheffield needs 38,012 new homes by 2039.

The city council says all other options for homes have been ‘maximised’ including its land and privately-owned brownfield sites where the landowner has indicated they are open to development.

The Local Plan will be a blueprint for development in Sheffield over the next 14 years. It will give local planning officers more powers and put the brakes on what some see as a “developers’ free-for-all”.

But it is 16 years since its predecessor, the Core Strategy, in 2009. An update was originally meant to be finished by 2018. It is now scheduled to be in place in summer 2026.

On the ‘Opposition To The Planned Removal Of Green Belt Land In S13’ Facebook Page, Jodi Booker said the council had “failed everyone” by not having a plan.

She added: “When the inspectors identified green belt land for development the city council had no recourse at all because they’ve failed to provide an alternative, and therefore failed the residents who live in the areas of green belt due to be developed.

“And now there’s a threat that if the current green belt proposal isn’t pushed through, the government will step in and force 10,000 additional homes in Sheffield? How can the council be allowed to fail who it serves so significantly? Outrageous.”

At a council strategy and resources committee meeting on April 30 councillors were warned that rejecting the Plan now could trigger even stricter national housing rules, requiring them to find sites for an additional 10,000 homes.

Steve Hickey said: “By all accounts, the council has a lot to answer for too. By not having a Local Plan on offer in time they have left themselves open to government coming in and taking more land. These incompetent people are the real cause for this and they should be held accountable.”

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Coun Douglas Johnson, leader of the Green Party in Sheffield and chair of the housing committee, said no party was advocating building on green belt but there was “no other option.”

He added: “Right now we have to secure the Local Plan. That will give planning officers much more important powers. At the moment it’s a developers’ free-for-all.”

He claimed the Local Plan was bogged down for six years between 2015 and 2021 when Labour was in power in Sheffield and “no action was taken.”

He also said much more could be done to house people “without building anything at all” including using empty properties. And he hit out companies “land banking” - buying land that could be developed and then sitting on it.

The green belt proposals are due to be presented to full council on Wednesday, May 14.

Public consultation on the short-list will take place this summer, before the examination by government inspectors continues later in the year.

It is anticipated that the Plan will be adopted in July 2026.