Progress has been made to identify possible sites for additional housing and employment as part of Sheffield’s ambitious Local Plan.
Two months ago, Government Inspectors delivered their positive initial findings into Sheffield City Council’s ambitious Local Plan.
In a letter, which followed a series of public hearings where Sheffield residents and businesses were able to have an input, the Inspectors welcomed the Council’s approach to regeneration and recognised Homes England’s assessment that “Sheffield is one of their top current locations in England for partnership and funding work.”
The letter also contained recommendations, including the need to provide more houses to ensure there is sufficient choice for the future and to maximise the number of affordable homes we can deliver.
Inspectors concluded that 38,012 additional homes are needed over the 17- year Plan period to meet the needs of a growing city – more than set out in the Draft Local Plan.
As a result, the Council was tasked with identifying land for an additional 3,529 homes.
The Inspectors also asked the Council to find an additional 53 hectares of land for employment uses, to fulfil the Plan’s ambition to create tens of thousands of new jobs over the next 15 years and further into the future.
In the letter, the Inspectors concluded that, while they recognise the importance of the Green Belt, meeting the identified housing and employment needs is also an important objective.
Since then, the Council has been looking into additional areas of the city that could be used to meet the increased need.
The Council has always explored site options with a brownfield first policy; however, all of those options have been maximised already. As a result, sites within the green belt have been looked into.
Therefore, an initial ‘long-list’ of potential sites within the Green Belt was produced following consideration of submissions by land agents and developers. Since February, Council staff and elected members have been working to reduce it down to a ‘short-list’.
The short-list of sites proposed for housing is as follows:
• Land to the south of The Wheel (S35 8RY) and land between Creswick Avenue and Yew Lane (S35 8QN) – 609 homes.
• Land to the west of Grenoside Grange, Fox Hill Road (S35 8QS) and Holme Lane Farm, Halifax Road, Grenoside (S35 8PB) – 188 homes.
• Land at Wheel Lane and Middleton Lane (S35 8PU) – 148 homes.
• Land to the east of Chapeltown Road, Chapeltown (S35 9ZX) – 549 homes.
• Land at Forge Lane, Oughtibridge (S35 0GG) – 69 homes.
• Land between Storth Lane and School Lane – 103 homes.
• Land between Bramley Lane and Beaver Hill Road, Handsworth – 868 homes.
• Land to the south of White Lane, Gleadless Townend (S12 3HS) – 304 homes.
• Land between Lodge Moor Road and Redmires Conduit – 258 homes.
• Land to the north of Parkers Lane, Dore – 82 homes.
The following sites have been proposed for mixed-use housing and employment allocation:
• Handsworth Hall Farm – 770 homes with 20 hectares of employment land.
The following sites have been proposed for employment allocation:
• Land bordered by M1, Thorncliffe Road, Warren Lane, and White Lane – 18.06 hectares.
• Hesley Wood, north of Cowley Hill, Chapeltown – 13.35 hectares.
• Land to the south of the M1 Motorway Junction 35, Ecclesfield – 15.94 hectares.
Further information on the sites can be found by reading the full report and the accompanying technical reports.
The current total area of Sheffield’s Green Belt is 9,061 hectares. The amendments to the boundary proposed in the report would result in 327.45 hectares being removed or 3.6% of the total area.
Elected members are due to take a formal view on the sites listed above at Strategy and Resources Committee on Wednesday 30th April with the proposal due to be presented in front of Full Council on Wednesday 14 May. Public consultation on the short-list will then take place this summer, before the examination by the Government Inspectors continues later in the year.