Selling Land in North East Derbyshire

• Fields of 2 acres or more on the edge of Dronfield, Eckington, Killamarsh, Clay Cross or Wingerworth.
• Green Belt land between Sheffield, Dronfield and Chesterfield that is enclosed by roads, housing or the railway.
• Land beside the Chesterfield boundary, where the council's own consultation found most support for growth.
• Former works, depots, yards and similar brownfield sites, whether or not they are in the Green Belt.
• Larger holdings that could form part of a strategic site or new settlement.

Many landowners here farm the land they would put forward, and our page on farmland explains how we approach it. We take on the whole planning effort, from the Green Belt evidence to the application and any appeal, and pay for all of it under an option agreed at a price fixed on day one, above today's value. You carry on farming until completion, and should permission be refused, the land remains yours with nothing owed to us.

• An outright sale. You sell the land as it stands today, privately or at auction. The price is what a buyer will pay for it without planning permission, and the buyer takes on everything that follows.
• A conditional contract. You agree a sale now, but it only completes if planning permission is granted. Until then you keep the land, and the agreement sets out who applies for permission and who pays.
• An option agreement, the route we use. We agree your price at the start, in writing, set above what your land is worth today. We then pay for and run all of the planning work, at our own cost and risk. If permission is granted, we complete the purchase and you receive the agreed price on completion. If it is not, you keep your land and owe nothing.

For land that needs planning permission before it is worth more, an option means you know your price before any work starts and never spend a penny on planning. The ways to sell land for development, compared sets out each route in full.

The council's Five Year Housing Land Supply Statement 2026, published in June 2026 with a base date of 1 April 2026, measures supply against the plan's 330 homes a year until the plan's strategic policies turn five, and gives a different answer for each stage of the year:

The supply side does not change between the rows. The council projects 378, 374, 410, 362 and 246 completions in the five years to 2030/31, 1,770 in all, counting only sites that already have planning permission, including 249 homes on small sites after a 7% allowance for permissions that lapse. The district built 5,299 homes from 2014 to 2026 against 3,960 required, 1,339 more, so there is no past shortfall to add, but the council's sums take nothing off for that surplus either. What moves is the yardstick.

The 20% Buffer That Has Applied Since 1 July 2026

The rule behind the middle row came into force on 1 July 2026 and applies to decisions only. Where a council's requirement is under five years old, was tested at examination against a framework earlier than December 2024, and comes to 80% or less of the standard method figure, the buffer becomes 20%. The council's statement confirms that this applies from 1 July until 29 November 2026, because 330 homes a year is less than 80% of the latest need figure of 563. For those five months its own figure is 4.47 years, 210 homes short of the 1,980 needed.

What the Council Expected, and What Happened

The council's Authority Monitoring Report for 2024/25, published in October 2025, was candid. Based on the evidence then and assuming no new sites came forward, it expected the supply to fall below five years at 1 April 2026 even before the yardstick changed. On the plan's figure with a 5% buffer it held just above, at 5.11 years; the 20% buffer, and then the change of yardstick, are what take it below.

Where the Homes Come From

The supply leans on a handful of large permissions. In the council's 2025 statement, four sites made up 930 of the 1,845 homes it counted: land south west of Upperthorpe Road at Killamarsh, 315 homes by Harron Homes and Homes by Honey on an outline permission won at appeal for up to 397; the former Avenue site at Wingerworth, 248; Windy Ridge at Holmewood, 192 by Avant Homes; and land at the Poplars, Old Tupton, 175. As those sites finish, the count falls unless new permissions replace them.

The Yardstick From 30 November 2026

Once strategic policies pass five years, national policy measures supply against the government's standard method figure for local housing need rather than the plan's requirement. The council puts that figure at 563 homes a year for 2026, or 591 with a 5% buffer, so five years means 2,956 homes against the same 1,770, a gap of 1,186 and 2.99 years on its own sums. New permissions granted before then will change the count, and the next statement is the council's to make, not ours to predict. For its new plan, the council's Cabinet has been working to a figure of about 600 homes a year.

For an owner selling land on the edge of Dronfield, Eckington or Clay Cross, the point is that the gap on the council's own sums grows from 210 homes to 1,186 once the yardstick changes, unless new permissions fill it.

Where your land sits in relation to the settlements, the Green Belt and the park decides which route, if any, is open:

1. Inside a town or village. Plots, backland and old commercial sites within the built-up areas of Dronfield, Clay Cross, Eckington, Killamarsh or the villages fall under policy S4 of the national framework as revised in August 2026, which starts from support and allows a refusal only if the harm would substantially outweigh the gains.
2. Countryside outside the Green Belt. Policy S5 supports homes past a settlement's edge where housing need is shown to be going unmet, provided the land relates well to the place beside it and the local roads, school places and drainage have room for it. The usual evidence is a supply under five years, weighed case by case rather than applied automatically. The council's own statement now shows 4.47 years for decisions until 29 November 2026 and 2.99 years from the day after, so that evidence is there to weigh.
3. Green Belt. S5 does not reach Green Belt land. Grey belt, meaning Green Belt land that contributes little to its purposes, can take homes only where need is evidenced, most often by a supply short of five years, and schemes above a certain size must also satisfy the Golden Rules for affordable homes, infrastructure and accessible green space. With the council's own figures below five years, the need test is met on the council's own figures, so the real question for a Green Belt field is whether it qualifies as grey belt at all.
4. Previously developed land in the Green Belt. An old yard, depot or works site, where the buildings or hard surfacing were lawful, is judged under separate national tests that do not hinge on the housing figures.
5. Inside the Peak District. The Park Authority's draft plan, put to its meeting on 10 July 2026, allows up to 1,740 homes across the whole park by 2045, restricts open market housing and relies on exception sites for affordable homes meeting local need.

Land just outside the park boundary, around Holmesfield or west of Dronfield, is decided by the district council, although its effect on the park's setting is weighed. Our grey belt guide explains how Green Belt purposes are judged.

The plan turns five on 29 November 2026, and from the next day the council measures supply against the standard method rather than 330 homes a year. Its own statement puts the result at 2.99 years from that date, against 4.47 years under the 20% buffer that applies until then. On either measure the council cannot show five years, so land outside the Green Belt has evidenced need to weigh under S5, and Green Belt land that qualifies as grey belt meets the need test. The council's next statement, with a base date of 1 April 2027, will be the first measured wholly on the new yardstick.

A Submission Aimed for December, and a Merger on Hold

The council has been aiming to submit its new plan by December 2026. Whether it does, and which Green Belt parcels the pre-submission version includes, will shape the district for the next two decades. A submitted plan carries more weight against sites it has not chosen, so with a shortfall in the council's own figures, the months before submission are when an application on well placed unallocated land outside the Green Belt has most force.

As for the delivery test, the Housing Delivery Test 2025 was published on 17 August 2026, and the next edition will follow in the usual yearly cycle. At 268%, the district is nowhere near the 95%, 85% or 75% lines that bring action plans, a larger buffer or automatic unmet need. The supply position, not the delivery test, is what opens doors here.

Reorganisation is paused. Under the government's decision of 16 July 2026, the district would have joined Chesterfield, Bolsover, High Peak, Derbyshire Dales and northern Amber Valley in a Derbyshire North Council from April 2028. That decision was paused for a review on 7 September 2026, with no timescale yet known for the outcome. For now the district council decides applications and runs its plan.

Evidence for Green Belt, Applications for Edge Land Before Submission

• Green Belt land: now is the time to assemble the evidence, for the pre-submission plan and for a grey belt case while the supply is short.
• Land outside the Green Belt on a settlement edge: the council's own figures are below five years now and lower still from 30 November, so a well placed site can be looked at before the plan is submitted.
• Previously developed land and sites inside the towns: these can be reviewed today. The stages from first look to decision are set out in how long planning takes.