Derbyshire council area

Selling Land in South Derbyshire

South Derbyshire builds far more homes than it is asked to, and a good part of that growth serves Derby, whose southern edge borders the district. Its plan dates from June 2016, a replacement went for examination on 26 August 2026, and the council's April 2026 paper shows 5.27 years of housing land, three months after an inspector at Melbourne found it short.

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Swadlincote, Melbourne and the Edge of Derby

South Derbyshire District Council is based in Swadlincote and covers about 338 square kilometres along the southern edge of Derby. It has two towns, Swadlincote and Melbourne, and the council's settlement order places Swadlincote with Woodville on its own at the top as the district's urban area. Ten key service villages follow, with Melbourne counted among them: Aston on Trent, Etwall, Hatton, Hilton, Linton, Melbourne, Overseal, Repton, Shardlow and Willington. Several of the largest sites in its housing supply lie on the Derby fringe instead, at Boulton Moor and west of Mickleover.

Two-part plan, now 10 years old. Part 1 of the Local Plan, for 2011 to 2028, was adopted in June 2016, and Part 2, with the non-strategic sites and the settlement boundaries, in November 2017.
Delivery far above target. The Housing Delivery Test 2025 counts 3,046 homes built against a requirement of 1,565, a result of 195%.
Part 1 review submitted. The replacement Part 1, planning to 2042, went to the Secretary of State on 26 August 2026.
Derby's overflow. The adopted plan's 12,618 homes include 3,013 to help meet Derby's need, and the plan now at examination takes on more.

For most of the last decade the plan has set the pace. What has changed is that it is now long past its fifth birthday, so the housing supply is measured against the government's figure instead, trimmed for Derby.

South Derbyshire 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
195%
Meeting its housing requirement.
Five-year housing land supply
5.27 years
Five years or more of deliverable housing land. Position at 1 April 2026, measured against the standard method, 586 homes a year, plus a 5% buffer, with 24% of the supply set aside for Derby's unmet need. Stated by South Derbyshire District Council.
Checked source
Homes built against homes needed
3,046
of 1,565 needed, April 2022 to March 2025
Most recent strategic plan adopted
June 2016
More than five years old, so its housing figures are usually replaced by the government's standard method.
New plan progress
Updated
Local Plan Part 1 Review submitted for examination on 26 August 2026
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.

Short at Melbourne in January, Five Years Again by April

The Kings Newton Lane Appeal

Richborough's appeal sought up to 135 homes on land south of Kings Newton Lane, just outside Melbourne's settlement boundary, and an inquiry sat in November 2025. The site conflicted with policy H1, which allows homes of any number inside settlement boundaries but only exception or cross subsidy schemes of up to 25 homes beside them. The inspector's decision of 6 January 2026 turned on the supply. Both sides agreed the standard method figure of 592 homes a year and agreed that part of the supply should be discounted because it serves Derby. They disagreed on how much. The inspector took 24%, the share of the adopted requirement that is Derby's, which cut the council's best case of 4,038 deliverable homes to 3,069 against a requirement of 3,108, and to about 2,999 once most of the homes counted at the former Drakelow Power Station were set aside for want of evidence. The inspector concluded that the council had failed to show five years, found no harm to the Kings Newton Conservation Area about 65 metres away, and allowed the scheme with 30% affordable housing.

The April 2026 Position

The council's Housing Position Paper of April 2026 rolls the base date on to 1 April 2026 and adopts the same 24% discount, citing the Melbourne decision. It shows a supply under three different requirements:

Source: South Derbyshire District Council, Housing Position Paper, April 2026, tables 7 to 9.
Requirement tested	Homes a year	Council's result
Adopted Local Plan, 2011 to 2028	742, plus 5%	5.48 years
Standard method, supply cut by 24% for Derby	586, plus 5%	5.27 years
Plan now at examination	764, plus 5%	5.32 years

Because the adopted plan is more than five years old, the standard method row is the one national policy points to. Its workings are tight: 4,274 net completions expected in the five years, reduced by 24% to 3,248, against 3,077 needed with the buffer. That is a margin of about 170 homes, roughly three months of building at recent rates.

Completions Are Falling

The same paper records net completions of 1,118 in 2022/23, 1,063 in 2023/24, 865 in 2024/25 and 668 in 2025/26. The council itself accepts that more sites are needed to keep delivery above local need, and that Derby's unmet need remains an issue it must help with. A slimmer margin and slowing completions mean the next statement could land on either side of five years. We make no forecast, but an owner on the edge of a key village should know that the position has already flipped once in 2026.

15,263 Homes, About a Third of Them for Derby

Derby has room for 12,500 homes against a need of 18,340, and the statement of common ground the Derby councils signed in February 2026 assigns 4,867 of the city's 5,840-home shortfall to South Derbyshire. The review of Part 1 is how the district takes that on. As submitted with its proposed modifications, policy S1 plans for at least 15,263 homes from 2022 to 2042: 10,140 for the district's own needs and the rest for Derby, about 763 a year in all.

STRA1, Infinity Garden Village, on Derby's southern fringe: about 2,000 homes, 1,665 of them within the plan period, with a primary school and a refurbished Sinfin Health Centre.
STRA2, land south of Mickleover, across the city boundary: about 2,500 homes, 1,838 within the plan period, with a primary school and a local centre.
Sites already in the pipeline, among them Drakelow Park, Wragley Way, Boulton Moor and Primula Way at Stenson, which the April 2026 paper lists among the largest in the supply.

The modifications also cut the plan's affordable housing requirement from 40% to 30% on sites of more than ten homes, following viability evidence, and extend the plan period by a year so that it runs for fifteen years after adoption. The plan is being examined against the December 2023 version of national policy, and it commits the council to start a comprehensive new plan as soon as the review is adopted.

Both new strategic sites sit on Derby's edge. For a landowner in the south of the district, that means the Part 1 review settles the big numbers but leaves the smaller allocations, which is where Part 2 comes in.

Part 2, and the 25-Home Limit at the Village Edge

Part 2 holds the non-strategic sites and the settlement boundaries, and its review has begun. The issues and options document, consulted on from 24 November 2025 to 30 January 2026, sets out what is at stake:

Settlement boundaries may be redrawn. The council says the boundaries may need to be reviewed again, against principles set out in the document.
Small sites count. National policy expects 10% of the requirement on sites of one hectare or less, so paddocks and small fields beside villages have a part to play.
A small gap to fill. The document identified a shortfall of 57 homes against the minimum requirement at that time.
Four tiers. Below Swadlincote and the key service villages sit local service villages such as Findern, Hartshorne, Rosliston, Ticknall and Weston on Trent, then smaller rural villages.

Until then, policy H1 of the 2016 plan governs the edge of every settlement. Inside a boundary, national policy S4 applies, and a refusal there has to show harm that substantially outweighs what the scheme would bring. Just outside one, H1 allows up to 25 homes only as an exception or cross subsidy site, and a larger scheme depends on the supply position, as Melbourne showed. Policy S5 of the August 2026 framework could help a village-edge field only with proof of unmet need, and a supply above five years gives it none today; the land would also have to relate properly to the village and have the roads, schools and drainage to cope. Our page on paddocks and small sites describes the kind of village-edge land that suits Part 2.

Two Green Belts, and the River Mease

Constraint	What it means for a site
Nottingham and Derby Green Belt, in the north east of the district	Policy S5 does not reach it. Housing there needs grey belt status with its own need test, or previously developed land, and the Golden Rules follow. Our grey belt guide explains both.
Burton and Swadlincote Green Belt, between the two towns	A local Green Belt lying between Swadlincote and Burton upon Trent, there to keep the two apart. Land in the narrow gap faces the hardest test.
River Mease Special Area of Conservation, around Overseal and Netherseal	Protected for its water-crowfoot, white-clawed crayfish, spined loach, bullhead and otter, and harmed by phosphorus. The modified plan requires nutrient neutrality for homes in the catchment, which includes the areas served by the Overseal and Netherseal treatment works in the council's scheme.
Affordable housing	30% on sites of more than ten homes in the modified plan, down from 40% in the version published in 2025.

None of these rules a site out on its own, but each changes what a scheme costs and how it is argued, and we price them in before agreeing anything with you.

The Land We Look for in South Derbyshire

Fields of 2 acres or more beside Hilton, Etwall, Repton, Willington, Aston on Trent or another key service village, for Part 2.
Paddocks and small fields of up to one hectare on the edge of a village, where the small sites share applies.
Land inside a settlement boundary in Swadlincote, Woodville, Melbourne or the villages.
Previously developed land, including former works and yards, in either Green Belt.
Larger holdings on the Derby fringe or close to Swadlincote, looking ahead to the comprehensive plan that follows the review.

For land that belongs in Part 2, the evidence on access, drainage, ecology and, near the Mease, nutrients has to be ready before the draft. We pay for that work in full, under an option agreement whose price is settled on the first day, above the land's value as it stands. Farming or grazing carries on as before, and should planning never be granted, the land remains in your hands with nothing to repay. The how it works page walks through the steps.

Hearings, Part 2 and a Council Due to Close in 2028

The Part 1 Examination

The examination page names inspectors S Dean and W Cooper and says the hearing dates will be published once confirmed. The February 2026 statement of common ground expected submission in spring 2026 and adoption in the autumn. Submission came on 26 August instead, after a consultation on proposed modifications from 5 May to 16 June 2026, so adoption now turns on hearings whose dates were still to be fixed at the end of September 2026. Once adopted, the new plan's requirement, 764 homes a year in the council's table, would replace the standard method as the supply yardstick, with Derby's share built in rather than discounted; the council's own table puts that case at 5.32 years.

Part 2

The February 2026 statement of common ground aimed for a draft Part 2 in summer 2026, submission before 31 December 2026 and adoption in summer 2027. The council's Part 2 review page, updated in mid September 2026, still listed only the issues and options stage and its evidence, so the draft, when sites are first named, is the stage to prepare for. Sites can be put to the council through the site submission form on its land availability assessment page, which it reviews periodically. Our guide to call for sites and local plans explains how a site moves through those stages.

Supply and Delivery

The next position paper, with an April 2027 base date, will show whether the thin margin held. The Housing Delivery Test 2025 came out on 17 August 2026, and a new edition follows yearly. The council's own sum for 2023/24 to 2025/26 comes to about 148%, lower than 195% but still far above every threshold, so on the council's own count the test is unlikely to open a new route in the coming year. The supply is the figure to watch.

Reorganisation

Under the July 2026 decision, the district council would have closed on 1 April 2028, joining Derby, Erewash and southern Amber Valley in a new council. On 7 September 2026 the government paused reorganisation for review, and the council notes that this is not the end of it. The Part 2 issues and options document had set out an ambitious timetable so that Part 2 could be adopted before 2028. For now the district council decides applications and runs both plan reviews.

What This Means for Timing

Village-edge land is best readied for the draft Part 2, and watched against the next supply paper.
Plots inside boundaries and previously developed land can be looked at now.
Larger holdings are for the comprehensive plan that follows the review, and early evidence helps.

Questions About Land in South Derbyshire

An appeal for 135 homes was allowed at Melbourne. Does that help my field near a village?

It helped that site because the supply was then short. The council now shows 5.27 years using the same 24% discount, so a large scheme outside a boundary would conflict with policy H1, and without a shortfall that conflict usually decides the case.

Why is part of the district's supply discounted for Derby?

Because some of the homes planned here are meant to meet Derby's need, not the district's. The Melbourne inspector took 24%, the share of the adopted requirement that is Derby's, and the council now uses the same figure.

My land adjoins Hilton. Is it a Part 1 or a Part 2 question?

Usually Part 2. The Part 1 review deals with the strategic sites on Derby's edge, while Part 2 will allocate the smaller sites and may redraw the settlement boundaries around villages such as Hilton.

My field near Overseal drains to the River Mease. Can it still be developed?

Possibly, but homes in the catchment must be nutrient neutral under the modified plan, which adds cost and design work. We check the drainage route and how neutrality could be achieved at the start.

What happens to an agreement with you if the district council is abolished?

Nothing changes between us. The agreement is with you, not with the council, and our work on the application or any appeal carries on whichever council ends up deciding it.

Tell Us About Your Land in South Derbyshire

It takes about two minutes. We only need your postcode, your name and a phone number or email; the rest helps us look properly. We reply within 2 working days, in confidence.

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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.