Sheffield Plan - Main modifications

Sheffield is growing and changing. To make sure the city develops in a way that works for everyone, we are creating a new Local Plan – the Sheffield Plan.

This is a long‑term blueprint for the future of our city. It guides where new homes, jobs, transport links, and community facilities should go between now and 2039.

We submitted a Draft Plan to Central Government in October 2023. This is currently being examined by Government-appointed Planning Inspectors.

We invited Sheffield residents and businesses to have their say on the Plan in 2020, 2023, 2024 and 2025 during consultations and public hearings. The Inspectors are now proposing changes (known as 'Main Modifications') to the Plan. The Inspectors consider these changes necessary to make the Sheffield Plan sound and legally compliant.

We are now seeking your views on these Main Modifications. A six week consultation is being carried out, running from Monday 2 March, until 5pm on Tuesday 14 April.

During the consultation, you can submit comments on:

  • Schedule of Proposed Main Modifications to the Sheffield Plan
  • Integrated Impact Assessment (Update and Addendum) (2026) and Non-Technical Summary
  • Integrated Impact Assessment Report Addendum: Modifications Consultation – including Non-Technical Summary
  • Habitats Regulations Assessment – Appropriate Assessment Update (2026)
  • Schedule of changes to the Policies Map arising from proposed Main Modifications

The Inspectors will only consider representations that relate directly to these matters.

We have also published a Schedule of Additional Modifications to the Plan and Additional Modifications to the Policies Map. These are minor changes and do not constitute Main Modifications. You can also make comments on these document but they will be considered by us, rather than the Inspectors.

Alongside the consultation, a track-changed version of the Sheffield Plan is available for the purpose of assisting in understanding the effect of the proposed Main Modifications and Additional Modifications in context.

The documents can be accessed via the links on the right-hand side of this page. Hard copies are also available at Howden House (Sheffield S1 2SH), all Sheffield libraries, and First Points.

The consultation is about whether the proposed Main Modifications (and related changes) and the other documents that are being consulted on are sound and legally compliant. With respect to the modifications you should not repeat comments you made on earlier versions of the Plan, comment on parts of the Plan that are not being changed, or request new changes that do not relate to the proposed Modifications.

You can make your comments using the “Survey” and "Make a Representation" buttons below. You will need to register before you make your comment.

Guidance on making representations on the Plan is available using the “Guidance on submitting representations” button below.

All comments received during the six-week consultation period will be passed to the Inspectors for them to consider except for comments made on the Additional Modifications, which will be considered by the City Council. Following the consultation, your comments and name will be published online but other personal information will remain confidential.

More information about the Plan is available at www.sheffield.gov.uk/SheffieldLocalPlan

Sign up to receive news and updates via email at https://public.govdelivery.com/accounts/UKSHEFFIELD/signup/46673

Sheffield is growing and changing. To make sure the city develops in a way that works for everyone, we are creating a new Local Plan – the Sheffield Plan.

This is a long‑term blueprint for the future of our city. It guides where new homes, jobs, transport links, and community facilities should go between now and 2039.

We submitted a Draft Plan to Central Government in October 2023. This is currently being examined by Government-appointed Planning Inspectors.

We invited Sheffield residents and businesses to have their say on the Plan in 2020, 2023, 2024 and 2025 during consultations and public hearings. The Inspectors are now proposing changes (known as 'Main Modifications') to the Plan. The Inspectors consider these changes necessary to make the Sheffield Plan sound and legally compliant.

We are now seeking your views on these Main Modifications. A six week consultation is being carried out, running from Monday 2 March, until 5pm on Tuesday 14 April.

During the consultation, you can submit comments on:

  • Schedule of Proposed Main Modifications to the Sheffield Plan
  • Integrated Impact Assessment (Update and Addendum) (2026) and Non-Technical Summary
  • Integrated Impact Assessment Report Addendum: Modifications Consultation – including Non-Technical Summary
  • Habitats Regulations Assessment – Appropriate Assessment Update (2026)
  • Schedule of changes to the Policies Map arising from proposed Main Modifications

The Inspectors will only consider representations that relate directly to these matters.

We have also published a Schedule of Additional Modifications to the Plan and Additional Modifications to the Policies Map. These are minor changes and do not constitute Main Modifications. You can also make comments on these document but they will be considered by us, rather than the Inspectors.

Alongside the consultation, a track-changed version of the Sheffield Plan is available for the purpose of assisting in understanding the effect of the proposed Main Modifications and Additional Modifications in context.

The documents can be accessed via the links on the right-hand side of this page. Hard copies are also available at Howden House (Sheffield S1 2SH), all Sheffield libraries, and First Points.

The consultation is about whether the proposed Main Modifications (and related changes) and the other documents that are being consulted on are sound and legally compliant. With respect to the modifications you should not repeat comments you made on earlier versions of the Plan, comment on parts of the Plan that are not being changed, or request new changes that do not relate to the proposed Modifications.

You can make your comments using the “Survey” and "Make a Representation" buttons below. You will need to register before you make your comment.

Guidance on making representations on the Plan is available using the “Guidance on submitting representations” button below.

All comments received during the six-week consultation period will be passed to the Inspectors for them to consider except for comments made on the Additional Modifications, which will be considered by the City Council. Following the consultation, your comments and name will be published online but other personal information will remain confidential.

More information about the Plan is available at www.sheffield.gov.uk/SheffieldLocalPlan

Sign up to receive news and updates via email at https://public.govdelivery.com/accounts/UKSHEFFIELD/signup/46673

  • How to submit a response to the Sheffield Plan consultation

    Anyone wishing to comment on the consultation should submit their comments and representations during the 6-week public consultation starting on Monday 2nd of March 2026 and closing at 5pm on Tuesday the 14th of April 2026.

    Where and how?

    Responses can be submitted from Monday 2nd of March until 5pm on Tuesday 14th of April. They can be submitted using the following methods:

    • On paper representation forms:

    • Printed and returned by post (see address below)

    • By post and sent to:

    Strategic Planning Team

    Planning Service

    5th Floor, Howden House

    Sheffield

    S1 2SH

    The Council encourage those submitting comments to use the consultation website.

    It is important to note that representations sent after the consultation period will be marked as late and may risk not being taken into account by the Inspectors.

    What happens once my response is submitted and the consultation finishes?

    All comments received during the 6-week consultation period will be passed to the Inspectors for them to consider, except for comments made on the Additional Modifications, which will be considered by the City Council.

    Your comments and name will be published but other personal information will remain confidential.

    What are the next steps in the process after the consultation is finished?

    The Inspectors will review and consider the comments received and will decide whether to recommend the Main Modifications are made to the Sheffield Plan within their Final Report. If required, the Inspectors may request further hearing sessions take place to discuss new significant evidence submitted during this consultation. Having received the Final Report, the Council will then decide whether to adopt the plan with the recommended modifications or not.

    How should I write my response?

    The Inspectors will want to see evidence to justify any proposed changes to the Main Modifications – there needs to be valid planning reasons for rejecting or amending the Main Modifications. As the plan has undergone previous consultations and it has been extensively debated in front of the Inspectors during the hearing sessions, comments and evidence already made should not be repeated. The Inspectors will have seen and heard these already and they will have informed their decision on which parts of the plan are sound, and which are not and therefore require these modifications.

    Relevant planning considerations include environmental and ecological impacts, traffic and transport, infrastructure and community facilities provision or economic viability. You may also comment on whether the modifications comply with Government legislation.

    All representations should:

    • provide the modification reference number that you are commenting on;

    • indicate whether the modification is legally compliant and sound, justifying your position with evidence where possible; and

    • if relevant, set out the change you are seeking.

    Representations on the other documents that form part of this consultation, including the Integrated Impact Assessment work and Habitat Regulations Assessment should also be focused on soundness and legal compliance.

    Legal Compliance

    You should consider the following before making a representation on legal compliance:

    • The plan should be included in the Council’s Local Development Scheme (LDS)1 and the key stages set out in the LDS should have been followed. .

    • The process of community involvement for the Plan should also be in general accordance with the Council’s Statement of Community Involvement (SCI)2, which sets out the strategy for involving the community in the preparation and revision of the Plan.

    • A Sustainability Appraisal (for Sheffield this is called the Integrated Impact Assessment) should be available and comply with the relevant requirements.

    • The Plan should comply with all other relevant requirements of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004, and the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012, as amended (the Regulations).

    Soundness

    Comments submitted should also aim to include why the aspect of the consultation being commented on is not considered ‘positively prepared’, ‘justified’, ‘effective’ or "consistent with national policy" (those found in the December 2023 National Planning Policy Framework3 - (NPPF). Please see definitions and a brief explanation in the table below. The Inspectors will decide whether to recommend these modifications are made based on the above tests of Soundness. It is important to keep comments to the point as much as possible.

    Test of Soundness

    Brief Explanation

    Positively Prepared: the Local Plan is based on a strategy which seeks to meet objectively assessed development and infrastructure requirements

    This means that the Local Plan should be based on a strategy which seeks to meet objectively assessed development and infrastructure requirements, and consistent with achieving sustainable development.

    Justified: the most appropriate strategy when considered against the reasonable alternatives, based on proportionate evidence

    This means that the Local Plan should be based on a robust and credible evidence base.

    Effective: The Local Plan is deliverable over its period based on effective joint working on cross-boundary strategic priorities

    This means the Local Plan should be deliverable, requiring evidence of:

    • Sound infrastructure delivery planning;

    • Having no regulatory or national planning barriers to delivery;

    • Delivery partners who are signed up to it; and

    • Coherence with the strategies of neighbouring authorities.

    • The Local Plan should be flexible and able to be monitored.

    Consistent with national policy

    This means that the Local Plan enables the delivery of sustainable development in accordance with the policies in the NPPF.

Page published: 02 Mar 2026, 04:01 PM