Sheffield is growing and changing. To make sure the city develops in a way that works for everyone, we're creating a new Local Plan for Sheffield.
This is a long‑term blueprint that guides where new homes, jobs, transport links and community facilities should go between now and 2039.
Once it has been adopted, it will replace the Sheffield Core Strategy (2009) and 'saved' policies in the Sheffield Unitary Development Plan (1998).
You can refer to Adopted Sheffield Local Plan for more information about the Core Strategy and Unitary Development Plan.
You can also sign up to our Local Plan mailing list to receive further updates.
Sheffield Plan timeline
The timeline for the Sheffield Plan is:
- 6 September 2023 – the Draft Sheffield Plan, together with proposed amendments, was approved by the Council for submission to the government
- 6 October 2023 – the Draft Plan was submitted to government for examination under Regulation 22 of the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012
- May to November 2024 – for the independent examination (Regulation 24), Government Inspectors held a series of public hearings with Sheffield residents and businesses
- February 2025 – Government Inspectors delivered their positive initial findings into our ambitious Local Plan; they asked us to increase the number of homes to 38,012 (3,529 more than we had identified in the Draft Plan) and add 53 more hectares of employment land
- 14 May 2025 – our updated proposals, developed in response to the Inspectors’ initial findings, were agreed by Full Council
- 29 May to 11 July 2025 – public consultation took place on the updated proposals
- September to November 2025 – Government Inspectors held further public hearings, where the public’s detailed issues were again considered
- January 2026 – Government Inspectors set out their views in their post-hearings letter to the Council, where they say the Sheffield Local Plan is capable of being found sound if some changes (known as ‘main modifications’) are made
- March to May 2026 - public consultation on proposed modifications to the Plan
- 12 June 2026 – the Planning Inspectors’ post Main Modifications note to the Council was published
- 3 July 2026 – the Council published its response to the Planning Inspectors’ Main Modifications letter
- 27 July 2026 – the Planning Inspectors replied to the Council
- 14 September to 5pm on 28 October 2026 - public consultation on proposed further main modifications to the Plan
For further information, please see the Sheffield Plan examination website.
Have your say on key changes to the Sheffield Local Plan
The inspectors examined the responses from the consultation held between March and May 2026. They requested that the Council conduct another consultation on some additional changes, known as Further Main Modifications, before they finish their final report.
The proposed changes include:
- updates to reflect recent national planning legislation
- refinements to a small number of site allocations
- amendments to policies covering biodiversity, green and blue infrastructure, flood risk and affordable housing
The changes involve very small adjustments to the boundaries of two allocated sites. These do not change the number of homes that can be built on those sites.
The consultation will include updated Integrated Impact Assessment and Habitats Regulations Assessment documents, which have been revised to take account of the proposed changes.
The consultation also addresses limited further matters the Inspectors have asked the Council to offer additional consideration to. These include changes to the national Agricultural Land Use Classification system, and information with respect to a small number of sites promoted during a previous public consultation on the Local Plan.
You can read all the consultation documents on the Have Your Say website, in-person at Howden House, or your local library or First Point. This includes the full list of changes and information on how to respond.
Visit the Have your Say website
You can submit comments on:
- Schedule of Proposed Further Main Modifications to the Sheffield Plan
- Consequential Changes to the Policies Map as a result of Proposed Further Main Modifications
- Integrated Impact Assessment: Sustainability Appraisal note to respond to Examination queries and Further Main Modifications
- Habitats Regulations Assessment – Appropriate Assessment Review (2026)
We have also published a small number of additional documents on the examination website. These documents offer background for the Further Main Modifications consultation and address queries from the Inspectors. They may be useful when commenting on the Further Main Modifications (and related changes).
What will happen next
When the current consultation closes, all representations on the proposed further main modifications will be passed to the Planning Inspectors for them to consider. Once the Planning Inspectors have completed their examination process, they will publish their final report.
If the Inspectors find the plan (as modified) to be sound, the Council must decide whether to adopt the Plan. This will be considered first by the Strategy and Resources Policy Committee before then being taken to Full Council.
We do not yet have a date for the Strategy and Resources Policy Committee or Full Council decision. The dates of these will depend on when we receive the Inspectors’ report.
Sheffield Plan examination
The draft plan is examined by independent Government Inspectors.
The examination website contains all the submission documentation, information on the examination process, and further updates since the examination started.
It also contains contact details for the independent programme officer, Ian Kemp, who is the point of contact for any questions about the examination. All correspondence with the Inspectors should be addressed through him.
Why Sheffield needs a Local Plan
Our city needs a local plan for several reasons:
It sets out where new homes and jobs will go
Every city needs to plan ahead. Sheffield’s Local Plan explains how and where development should happen up to 2039, replacing planning policies that are more than a decade old.
It ensures new housing, workplaces and services are in the right places to support communities.
It also shapes neighbourhood centres, community facilities and transport links so areas develop in a balanced way.
It ensures Sheffield has enough homes for the future
Government inspectors have confirmed that Sheffield needs around 38,000 new homes over the next 17 years to meet the needs of a growing population.
Without a Local Plan, the city risks ad‑hoc, speculative development, with less ability to shape where new homes should go.
It supports jobs and a stronger local economy
The Plan identifies land for new employment sites, helping the city create tens of thousands of jobs and supporting existing businesses to grow. This is vital for Sheffield’s future economy.
It helps protect Sheffield’s environment
Sheffield is proud of its green spaces. The Local Plan aims to prioritise brownfield sites and limit development on greenfield and Green Belt land as far as possible. It also raises standards for new development to help Sheffield meet its 2030 net zero carbon goals.
The Plan allocates over 350 pieces of land for future development. There's a strong focus on reusing previously developed brownfield land in the urban parts of Sheffield. A small number of Green Belt sites were added to the plan last year, after the Government Inspectors asked us to increase the number of homes in our draft Local Plan.
These sites represent around 3.5% of Sheffield’s Green Belt overall. This means more than 96% of Sheffield’s Green Belt remains protected under the Plan.
New accessible open spaces will be provided as part of new developments and important areas for nature will be protected.
Several ‘golden rules’ will have to be met before any housing can be built on them. These include guaranteeing affordable housing and ensuring that infrastructure and homes are built together.
It ensures new development comes with the infrastructure to support it
The Local Plan coordinates where new homes and jobs will be with the things that make communities work. Like schools, health services, transport, green spaces, and digital infrastructure.
It gives Sheffield more control over development
Without an approved Local Plan, national planning rules carry more weight, and developers have greater freedom to challenge planning decisions.
A strong Local Plan helps Sheffield guide development in a way that reflects local priorities.
Previous consultations
Details on previous consultations are provided here, including:
- Proposed Additional Site Allocations (2025)
- Publication Draft Local Plan - Regulation 19 (2023)
- Sheffield Plan: Our City, Our Future - Issues and Options – Regulation 18 (2020)
- Consultation on the Citywide Options for Growth – Regulation 18 (2015)
Proposed Additional Site Allocations 2025
Details around the Proposed Additional Site Allocations for 2025 can be found on Have Your Say.
A statutory "Regulation 19" public consultation on the Publication Draft Local Plan took place from 9 January 2023 to 20 February 2023.
This consultation was the last public stage before we submitted the Sheffield Plan to central government for independent examination. Full details of all of the documents that formed part of the consultation are available on our Sheffield Plan consultation portal.
A statutory public consultation on the Issues and Options document 2020 took place from Tuesday 1 September until Tuesday 13 October 2020. This is the first stage of preparing the new Sheffield Plan.
The Issues and Options 2020 document outlined the key opportunities and challenges for the city. It also set out some issues and options for consideration.
We had previously consulted on an issues and options document in 2015 (Citywide Options for Growth to 2034). But analysis of the responses to that consultation highlighted that many people were concerned about how much housing development was proposed on Green Belt land.
Economic growth and the provision of new homes are important issues that we need to address in order to plan for the future development of the city. In the Issues and Options document (2020), we asked whether more homes could be built on brownfield land, especially within, or close to, the city centre.
We produced a series of short summary presentations that explained what each section of the document was about.
Additional documents
As part of the Issues and Options consultation, we also asked for comments on some additional documents.
Background documents
The documents below explain technical matters that were referred to in the Issues and Options document:
A separate map and accompanying site schedule are available showing all the sites referred to in the Housing and Economic Land Availability Assessment (HELAA).
Online question and answer sessions
As part of the consultation on the Issues and Options document (2020), we held 3 online sessions where officers from the Sheffield Plan team were available to answer questions. These were held on the 3, 16 and 23 of September 2020.
You can read our responses to the questions asked at each session (as well as answers to any questions submitted to us in writing afterwards).
Issues and Options 2020 - Interim Consultation Report
The interim consultation report summarises the comments that were made on the Issues and Option document. It also provides a summary of who responded to the consultation.
The final consultation report will include the Council’s responses to the comments and suggestions that were made. It will be published alongside the Publication Draft Local Plan in autumn 2021.
We consulted on the ‘Citywide Options for Growth to 2034’ document in 2015. A copy of this document alongside the various supporting documents and background evidence can be viewed below.
The comments made on the 2015 consultation are published in our summary report. These comments have been used to inform the Issues and Options 2020 document, alongside other factors such as revised national planning policies, the declaration of the Climate Emergency and commitment to work towards making Sheffield zero carbon by 2030, and the Covid-19 pandemic.
Other background documents
We also have some background documents published in November 2015 to support the Citywide options for Growth document.
Call for sites
The call for sites consultation took place from 16 December 2019 to 7 February 2020.
Details of the sites that were put forward by landowners and developers through the call for sites are in the Sheffield Housing and Economic Land Availability Assessment (HELAA) map and site schedule.
Local Development Scheme
The Local Development Scheme sets out the timetable for producing the new Local Plan (the Sheffield Plan). A revised Local Development Scheme, setting out the steps involved in producing the plan, came into effect on 6 March 2025.