Derbyshire council area

Selling Land in Chesterfield

Chesterfield builds well above the target in its own plan, yet the council accepts it cannot show five years of housing land. The reason is arithmetic: its plan turned five in July 2025, so supply is now measured against the government's figure of 494 homes a year rather than the plan's 240, and the borough's own statement finds 3.46 years. A new plan for 2025 to 2044 formally began on 21 September 2026.

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Chesterfield, Staveley and the Eastern Villages

Chesterfield Borough Council covers a compact area of about 66 square kilometres, home to 106,045 people in 2024. The town of Chesterfield sits at its heart, with Staveley, the borough's other town, to the north east, and Brimington, Old and New Whittington, Hollingwood, Tapton and Netherthorpe around them. The plan groups Barrow Hill, Duckmanton, Mastin Moor and Poolsbrook together as the Eastern Villages.

A plan adopted in July 2020. The Chesterfield Borough Local Plan 2018 to 2035 asks for a minimum of 240 homes a year, 4,080 over its seventeen years, under policy CLP1.
Regeneration first. The same policy names the Eastern Villages, Holme Hall and the Staveley and Rother Valley Corridor as Regeneration Priority Areas, and steers new building to places within walking distance of key services.
Delivery far above target. The Housing Delivery Test 2025 counts 1,101 homes against a requirement of 655 over April 2022 to March 2025, a result of 168%.
Green Belt on three sides. The plan describes a Green Belt around the north, west and south west of the borough, and it chose not to review it, finding enough land outside it.
Gaps and wedges between the settlements. Strategic gaps keep Brimington apart from Tapton and Old Whittington apart from New Whittington, and green wedges run along the River Hipper at Walton, through Holme Hall and Newbold Green, and between Dunston and Sheepbridge.

Those two facts pull in different directions. Measured by the delivery test, Chesterfield builds well above what it is asked for. Measured against the national formula that now applies to its land supply, it falls well short, and that shortfall is what gives land on the edge of the town a case it did not have two years ago.

Chesterfield in Figures

The government's latest figures for the council, its latest five-year housing land supply, and where its local plan stands.

Housing Delivery Test 2025
168%
Meeting its housing requirement.
Five-year housing land supply
3.46 years
Short of five years: national policy treats this as evidence of unmet housing need. Position at 1 April 2026, measured against the standard method, 494 homes a year, plus a 5% buffer. Stated by Chesterfield Borough Council.
Checked source
Homes built against homes needed
1,101
of 655 needed, April 2022 to March 2025
Most recent strategic plan adopted
July 2020
More than five years old, so its housing figures are usually replaced by the government's standard method.
New plan progress
Updated
New Local Plan 2025 to 2044 formally started 21 September 2026; consultation from 23 November 2026, adoption aimed for July 2028
Checked source

Sources: Housing Delivery Test: 2025 measurement, MHCLG, published 17 August 2026; Local plans: monitoring progress, Planning Inspectorate, August 2026. Local plans move quickly, so always check the council's own website for the latest position.

How a Plan Turning Five Cost the Borough Its Supply

The council's five-year supply statement of August 2026 covers the five years from 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2031. It explains that because the plan was adopted in July 2020 and its policies are now more than five years old, national policy now tests the borough's supply against the government's standard method figure for local housing need, not against the plan's 240 a year. The workings are set out in full:

Source: Chesterfield Borough Council, Five Year Housing Supply Position at 1 April 2026, published August 2026.
Part of the calculation	Council's figure
Standard method baseline	411 homes a year, 0.8% of the borough's existing housing stock
Affordability adjustment	multiplied by 1.2014, giving local housing need of 494 homes a year
Five years at that rate	2,470 homes
Buffer	5%, because delivery shows no persistent shortfall
Five-year requirement with buffer	2,594 homes
Deliverable supply	1,795 homes
Shortfall	799 homes
Result	3.46 years

Of the 1,795 homes counted, 1,050 are the remaining plots on sites already being built. Small sites with permission add 294, outline permission for major schemes 175, plan allocations without permission 140 and communal accommodation 136. The brownfield register contributes none. In other words, well over half the supply is already under construction, and very little is waiting in reserve.

The Council Says the Method, Not the Building Rate, Is the Cause

The previous statement, at 1 April 2025, found 3.12 years against a need of 497 homes a year, so the shortfall is not new. When the latest figure went to the planning committee on 27 July 2026, the officers' covering report was direct: the only reason the position had changed was the new national method, which brought a significant increase in the target. Members were asked simply to note it. The borough completed 266 net new homes in 2025/26, comfortably above the plan's 240 but a little over half of the 494 the formula now asks for. Unless the pipeline of deliverable sites grows sharply, or a new plan sets a different requirement, the gap will not close on its own.

What the Shortfall Opens, and Where the Green Belt Stops It

Policy S5 of the national framework, in its August 2026 form, supports homes beyond a settlement's edge where housing need is going unmet, and a supply below five years counts as evidence of that need, to be weighed in each case rather than treated as an automatic finding. It is a route to argue, not a guarantee. The site needs a close physical relationship with the town or village it adjoins, and the roads, schools, surgeries and drainage have to cope, either now or through works that are planned. S5 also does not apply in the Green Belt.

In Chesterfield that leaves three distinct kinds of edge, and they are judged quite differently:

Drawn from the Chesterfield Borough Local Plan 2018 to 2035 and the August 2026 national framework.
Where the land sits	How it is judged today
Inside the built-up area	Policy S4 of the national framework leans towards approval, and a refusal needs harm that substantially outweighs the benefits.
Countryside beyond the built-up area but outside the Green Belt	The adopted plan's policy CLP3 allows new homes here only in narrow cases, such as reusing redundant buildings or redeveloping previously developed land, but the supply shortfall gives S5 weight against that policy.
A strategic gap or green wedge	Outside the Green Belt, so S5 can be argued, but the plan protects the open character of these areas and the harm to them weighs heavily in the balance.
Green Belt on the north, west and south west edges	S5 does not apply. Housing depends on the land being grey belt or previously developed.

Grey Belt on the Northern and Western Edges

Grey belt is Green Belt land that does not strongly serve the purposes of the Green Belt, such as checking sprawl or stopping towns merging. National policy allows homes on it only where there is evidenced need, and a supply short of five years is one of the ways to show that. Chesterfield meets that test today, which is not true of every borough in the county. Larger schemes must also meet the Golden Rules on affordable housing, infrastructure and green space. Our grey belt guide sets out how a site is assessed against each purpose.

What a Scheme Here Carries

Policy CLP4 of the plan sets affordable housing by the borough's Community Infrastructure Levy zones: none in the zero zone, then 5%, 10% and 20% in the low, medium and high zones, on sites of ten or more homes, with 90% of it for affordable rent. On the same sites, the plan asks for a quarter of new homes to be built to the accessible and adaptable standard. The levy itself, which the council adopted in April 2016, and biodiversity net gain come on top, and we allow for all of it before we agree a price.

Big Regeneration Sites That Sit Outside the Five Years

The plan's growth leans on a handful of large sites, including the former Staveley Works. The supply statement shows how slowly some of them are moving, and why the council has so little in reserve:

Staveley Works, on the Staveley and Rother Valley Corridor. Identified for about 1,499 homes, but the statement expects delivery from 2032 onwards and ties it to the Chesterfield Staveley Regeneration Route, so it counts nothing in the five years. The plan itself had warned that a proposed HS2 depot could push most of the housing beyond 2035.
Chesterfield Waterside, off Brimington Road. A large mixed-use scheme where 177 homes have been built under an earlier permission. The statement counts none of the remainder in the five years.
Land south of Dunston Road. Outline permission for up to 500 homes, with reserved matters approved in June 2026. The statement counts 175 of them by 2031.
Land south of Worksop Road, Mastin Moor. The first phase is being built and a second phase was given conditional approval in July 2026. The statement counts 105 homes.

For a landowner, the lesson is that the council's larger sites are real but slow, and that the shortfall is partly a matter of timing: land exists in the plan, but it is not ready to deliver in the next five years. A well prepared site that can start soon addresses exactly that gap. Previously developed land also scores well here, as policy CLP2 gives it priority after the plan's strategy itself, and our page on brownfield and yards covers the old works, depots and hardstanding we look at.

The Land We Look for in Chesterfield

Fields of 2 acres or more on the edge of Staveley, Brimington or the Eastern Villages, outside the Green Belt.
Plots, gardens and backland inside the built-up area of Chesterfield and Staveley.
Green Belt land on the north and west edges that is enclosed by roads or housing and may qualify as grey belt.
Former works, yards, depots and pit land, including sites near the Rother valley and the Chesterfield Canal.
Land within walking distance of shops, schools and bus routes, which the plan's locational policy favours.
Larger holdings that could be put forward for the 2025 to 2044 plan.

Where we take a site on, we commission and pay for the surveys, drawings and planning work, whether the route is an application now or the new plan. Our option agreement fixes the price at the start, above what the land is worth today, and you carry on using the land until completion. If permission is not secured, you keep the land and owe nothing. The how it works page walks through each stage.

A 2025 to 2044 Plan, Started on 21 September 2026

The New Plan and Its Timetable

The council reviewed the 2020 plan in 2024 and concluded that a new one was needed, because the December 2024 national policy set a significantly higher requirement for new homes in the borough. It gave notice on 20 May 2026 that it would prepare the new plan, consulted on its scope from 15 June to 12 July 2026, ran a call for sites alongside it in June and July, and published its Gateway 1 self-assessment when formal preparation began on 21 September 2026. The plan is being prepared under the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2026, in force since 25 March 2026, and the council aims to adopt within 30 months of formal preparation starting, as national policy expects.

The council's local plan timetable took effect on 17 April 2026. The updated local plan timetable, published on 21 September 2026 alongside the Gateway 1 self-assessment, moved two groups of dates. The content and evidence consultation now starts later, to allow time to take account of the national framework published in August 2026. The proposed plan consultation, submission and adoption were moved to reflect announcements on local government reorganisation that change the cycle of council elections. The council's timetable, as updated, sets out the rest:

Target dates from the council's local plan timetable, as updated on 21 September 2026. They may move.
Stage	Council's timetable
Consultation on plan content and evidence	Opens 23 November 2026; the timetable gives 11 January 2027 for comments
Gateway 2 observations from the Planning Inspectorate	26 February 2027
Consultation on the proposed plan	26 July to 26 September 2027
Gateway 3	11 October 2027
Submission to the Secretary of State	8 November 2027
Adoption	19 July 2028

The November consultation is the first time the council's thinking on content and evidence will be public, and a site with its access, drainage and ecology evidence ready by then is best placed. How land moves from a site submission to an allocation is covered step by step in our guide to call for sites and local plans.

Green Belt Is Not Ruled Out at the First Sift

The call for sites has closed, but the council has said it will add the 2026 submissions to its site assessment once they have been assessed. Its 2026 assessment method is telling. In light of the 2024 changes to national policy, it does not treat Green Belt, strategic gaps or green wedges as fundamental constraints at the first stage, and considers them later when testing sites against different growth options. Flood Zone 3 and Sites of Special Scientific Interest do rule a site out at the start, as do sites too small for five homes. That is a markedly more open approach than the 2020 plan, which saw no need to look at the Green Belt at all.

The Next Supply Statement and Delivery Test

The council published its last two statements in July 2025 and August 2026, each measured from 1 April. While the adopted plan is more than five years old, the next will again be tested against the standard method, and only a much faster build rate, or a new plan with a different requirement, is likely to lift it. The Housing Delivery Test 2025 came out on 17 August 2026. At 168% the borough is far from any of its thresholds. Chesterfield would need a sharp fall before the test mattered: an action plan below 95%, a buffer of a fifth rather than a twentieth below 85%, and unmet need taken as read below 75%.

Reorganisation, Paused

Chesterfield was one of the councils the government, in its decision of 16 July 2026, assigned to a new Derbyshire North Council, with High Peak, Derbyshire Dales, North East Derbyshire, Bolsover and the northern part of Amber Valley, from April 2028. Ministers then put the Derbyshire decision on hold on 7 September 2026 while they review it, and the May 2027 elections will use today's council boundaries. The borough council still decides applications and is preparing the plan, and its September timetable has already moved the later plan stages to fit the changed election cycle.

What This Means for Timing

Land outside the Green Belt on a settlement edge has its strongest case while the shortfall lasts and before the new plan is adopted, as an up-to-date plan with fresh allocations gives the council firmer ground.
Green Belt land can be looked at now as possible grey belt, and put forward for the new plan in parallel.
Previously developed land and plots in the built-up area do not depend on the numbers at all.

The wider Derbyshire picture is on our Derbyshire page.

Questions About Land in Chesterfield

Chesterfield builds more homes than its plan asks for. Why does the council say it is short of land?

Because the plan turned five in July 2025, supply is now tested against the government's figure of 494 homes a year rather than the plan's 240. Measured that way, the council's own August 2026 statement finds 3.46 years.

My field is next to Staveley but outside the settlement. Does the shortfall help?

It can. Outside the Green Belt, the shortfall is evidence of unmet need under national policy S5, which can outweigh the plan's countryside policy where the land relates well to the town and services can cope. It is weighed case by case, and it is strongest before the new plan is adopted.

My land is in a strategic gap between Brimington and Tapton. Is it off limits?

Not outright, as gaps are not Green Belt, but the plan protects their open character and that harm counts heavily. The council's new site assessment no longer treats gaps as ruling a site out at the first stage, so the new plan is the more realistic route for most of this land.

I missed the June and July 2026 call for sites. Is it too late for the new plan?

Not necessarily. The plan's first public consultation on content and evidence opens on 23 November 2026, and anyone can make representations to it. On land we take on, the representations and the studies behind them are our job and our cost.

Would the Staveley Works regeneration make my land nearby less likely to be chosen?

The council expects Staveley Works to deliver from 2032 onwards, so it does little for the next five years. Land that can deliver sooner fills a gap the big sites leave, though each site is judged on its own access, services and constraints.

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Sources

Figures on this page come from the Housing Delivery Test 2025 (published 17 August 2026) and the Planning Inspectorate's local plan monitoring to August 2026, with newer plan milestones checked on 24 September 2026. We update the page when new results or plan milestones are published. Planning positions change quickly, so always check the council's own website before relying on it.