Hi Folks, info got from Councillor Alex Dale
More development being considered on White Lane (details of development at the bottom) by North East Derbyshire, use the link below and make an objection, White Lane Development is under Priority 1
📢 New Local Plan Consultation – A Guide for Residents
🧭 What is the Local Plan?
The Local Plan is the planning document that decides:
• Where new homes are built
• Where employment land goes
• What green spaces are protected
• How our area develops over the next 15–20 years
North East Derbyshire District Council is currently preparing a new Local Plan.
This has largely been triggered by the Government’s 164% increase in our local housing targets, which means the Council must now plan for around 600 new homes per year — roughly 12,000 homes between 2024 and 2044.
As a result, land across the district — including areas around Dronfield and our surrounding villages — is being considered for development.
📜 What happened in the previous consultation?
Last summer the Council ran a very broad “Issues and Options” consultation.
That consultation:
• Included all sites submitted by developers for consideration for development
• Asked a huge number of policy questions
• Was long, complex and difficult for many residents to navigate
Despite that, thanks to the incredible effort from residents across our area:
• Response numbers increased dramatically
• Engagement rose from around 300 responses previously to over 850
This was helped by the work many of us did locally:
• Thousands of leaflets delivered
• Public meetings organised in Dronfield, Unstone and Apperknowle and attended by 250 residents
• Guidance documents shared to help residents respond
So thank you to everyone who took part — your voices have genuinely made a difference.
🔍 What’s changed since the last consultation?
Following the consultation and further technical assessments, the Council has refined the list of potential development sites.
This has already led to some encouraging progress locally.
A number of sites have not progressed into this latest consultation, including:
• All sites in Apperknowle
• All sites in Middle & West Handley
• Sites at St John’s Road and Springbank in Unstone
• Several large sites around Bowshaw north of Dronfield
• The proposed traveller site north of Dronfield
Nothing is final at this stage — but the fact these sites have not progressed to the refined list is a positive sign.
However, there is still a significant amount of development being considered, including:
• 4 sites in Unstone totalling around 288 homes
• 9 sites in Dronfield totalling around 862 homes
• A proposed 9 hectare extension of the Callywhite Lane industrial estate
So there are still some very big decisions ahead.
📋 What is this new consultation about?
This consultation is simpler than the last one.
It focuses on two main things:
1️⃣ The overall strategy for where development should go
The Council proposes a hierarchy for development:
Priority 1:
Edges of Chesterfield/Sheffield, strategic sites and the main towns (including Dronfield)
Priority 2:
Larger villages
Priority 3:
Smaller villages
Priority 4:
Very small villages/hamlets
2️⃣ A refined list of sites
These are sites that have passed initial technical screening.
Residents can now comment on:
• The strategy itself
• Individual settlements
• Specific development sites using the interactive maps
❓ Why does this consultation matter?
Even though some sites have already been removed, nothing has been decided yet.
Important things to understand:
• Developers will also be responding to the consultation
• No final decisions have been made on any sites
• The Green Belt Review is still underway and won’t be completed until later this year
• That review could significantly affect which sites move forward
This means residents can still influence what happens next — so it is really important people take part.
📝 How do I respond?
The consultation runs:
📅 12 March – 30 April 2026
You can view the consultation and comment online here:
You can comment on:
• The development strategy
• Your local settlement
• Individual sites shown on the interactive maps
💬 What should I say in my response?
When commenting, it’s important to focus on planning matters (known as material planning considerations).
These can include things like:
• Impact on the Green Belt
• Traffic and highway safety
• Flood risk and drainage
• Wildlife and ecology
• Infrastructure capacity (schools, GP surgeries etc)
• Landscape and visual impact
Things like loss of a view or house prices, while understandably important to people, unfortunately cannot legally be taken into account by planners.
We are currently preparing a more detailed guidance document to help residents with this, which I’ll share soon.
📅 Public meetings
District Council drop-in sessions
These are run by the planners themselves.
📍 Dronfield Peel Centre
🗓 Saturday 28 March – 10am to 1pm
📍 Dronfield Civic Hall
🗓 Thursday 16 April – 4pm to 7pm
Dronfield Town Council public meetings
These will be run by councillor Alex Dale and fellow Councillors to help residents understand what is happening, how to respond and answer any other queries:
📍 Friday 27 March – 5:45pm – Peel Centre
📍 Thursday 9 April – 6:00pm – Civic Hall
45900 – White Lane Farm, White Lane, Ridgeway, Sheffield
This site may be able to support approximately 350 dwellings, based on prevailing neighbouring densities, and a 20% density uplift for towns and cities. Mitigation measures have not been applied to this site capacity yet and may result in an altered total.
The site is located within the Green Belt and will be assessed through a new Green Belt Review to identify the extent to which the site meets Green Belt purposes a, b & d (related to checking unrestricted sprawl, preventing neighbouring towns merging and preserving the setting and special character of historic towns). The review will identify whether the site is Grey Belt and will inform decisions over whether, or not, Green Belt boundaries should be amended to account for development needs – as required by the National Planning Policy Framework (2024).
For information, the 2016/17 Green Belt Review showed that this site (which covers the entirety of GB land parcel SHEFF/GB/013 and SHEFF/GB/015 and a large part of parcel SHEFF/GB/014) performed strongly against Green Belt purposes a & b and weaker against purpose d. Please note: the new Green Belt Review will follow the detailed methodology set out in recent National Planning Practice Guidance, which differs to the approach taken in the 2016/17 review, in terms of assessment criteria and what can be considered to be a town). For this reason, the land parcel results may differ.
The site adjoins the currently draft allocated land in Sheffield City Council’s draft Local Plan (Land south of White Lane, Site Ref: SS19).
White Lane and the tram tracks both run across the site area.
Development on the site may have a major landscape impact, in particular in isolation, without the consideration of Sheffield’s draft allocation. Impact is lower for the land to the north of the tramway.
Archaeological assessment classifies the site as having archaeological/historic environment issues, but might be suitable for allocation with appropriate site specific policy.
The site is located within the Moss Valley Conservation Area.
The land south of White Lane is possibly of ecological interest due to brook, hedgerows and trees. Any design would need to avoid or minimise impacts, which may be possible within the large site area.
Approximately 1% of the site is covered by flood risk zones 2 and 3, along the along the line of trees south of White Lane. There is also some risk of surface water flooding on the site.
A Public Right of Way crosses the site.
Natural England’s provisional agricultural land classification of the area is grade 3.
The site is located within coal authority development high risk area.
If this site were to be taken forward as an allocation, mitigation measures for the above constraints will need to be considered and any Local Plan policy text should include the requirement to address and mitigate the constraints listed above.