Sheffield green belt: Everything we know about shock plans for 3,529 houses on 14 green belt sites.
Residents across Sheffield are reeling at plans for 3,529 homes in the green belt - here’s everything we know.
Sheffield City Council has unveiled plans for 3,529 houses, 130 acres for business, three schools and two graveyards spread across 14 green belt sites.
It would be the biggest loss of protected green belt land ever, some 809 acres, or 3.6 per cent of the total area of 22,390 acres.
Councillors are due to take a ‘formal view’ on the proposals at a strategy and resources committee at 5pm today (Wednesday, April 30) at Sheffield Town Hall.
The proposals are to meet government housing quotas in the Local Plan, a blueprint for development over the next 14 years.
The council says it has been forced to choose green belt because brownfield sites have been ‘maximised’ and ‘options for providing land in the urban areas have been comprehensively explored’.
The news has been met with shock and dismay from residents in affected areas, especially Handsworth which is earmarked for 1,638 houses on two sites, 49 acres for employment use, a secondary school and graveyard.
Grenoside could see 945 homes across three sites, a secondary school, special needs school and graveyard, all in green belt.
A public meeting is being held from 5.30pm-7.30pm today, Wednesday, April 30, at St Mark's Church, Grenosie, to discuss proposals for the area.
Other plots are in Oughtibridge, Gleadless Townend, Lodge Moor, and Fulwood. See the full list here.
Opposition groups have sprung up with members worried about the impact on traffic, infrastructure, services, loss of green space, wildlife and a bias towards building in the north of the city.
What is the timeline for decision making?
Councillors are due to take a ‘formal view’ on the sites at a strategy and resources committee on Wednesday, April 30 with the proposal due to be presented in front of full council on Wednesday, May 14.
Public consultation on the short-list will then 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.
How were the sites chosen?
A report to the strategy and resources committee at Sheffield City Council says the process involved a combination of a sustainability appraisal, an assessment against ‘the purposes of green belt’ and a planning appraisal which considered access, physical features of the land, neighbouring uses and ‘other physical restraints’.
The report adds: “The sites are considered to be in sustainable locations, close to public transport and/or local facilities meaning more trips can be undertaken on foot or by cycling or wheeling.
“Whilst development of some of the sites may have negative effects on matters such as landscape, this has been weighed against positive effects such as providing more homes or land for employment.”
Who owns the sites?
The council says landowners put forward 102 separate parcels of green belt land following a ‘call for sites’ in 2019 and on two further occasions.
Three are wholly or partly owned by the council.
If the plans get the green light the authority says it would need to sell its sites to a developer or, where it is not the owner, enter into a joint development partnership.
Why are they concentrated in two areas of Sheffield?
The council says the recommended plots are concentrated in the north and south east of Sheffield and ‘there is not an even distribution of sites in all areas of the city.’
It is due to plots that have been put forward by landowners, existing and planned public transport (especially railway stations and Supertram) and proximity to jobs and local facilities.
The council says all green belt housing sites will be expected to provide affordable housing at a higher level than outside green belt. Further work is being undertaken to assess the numbers.