Hertfordshire council area

Selling Land in Stevenage

Stevenage is a compact borough of about 26 square kilometres, the first new town designated under the New Towns Act 1946, and it delivered 78% of the homes it needed in the latest government test. On 22 July 2026 it adopted a partial update of its local plan, and it has committed to an entirely new plan straight after, one that will have to find more homes than the last.

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Stevenage in Outline

Stevenage Borough Council covers the town and its neighbourhoods: the Old Town, Bedwell, Broadwater, Chells, Pin Green, Shephall, Symonds Green, Poplars and Bragbury End. Great Ashby, on the northern edge, looks like part of the town but lies in North Hertfordshire. The station on the East Coast Main Line has regular trains to London King's Cross, the A1(M) runs along the west side past junctions 7 and 8, and employers include GSK, Airbus Defence and Space, MBDA and the Stevenage BioScience Catalyst science park.

A delivery result of 78%. The borough built 956 homes against a requirement of 1,219 in the Housing Delivery Test 2025, which adds a 20% buffer to the land it must show.
A plan to 2031, freshly updated. The Local Plan 2011 to 2031 was first adopted in 2019, and a partial update was adopted on 22 July 2026. Its housing requirement stays at 7,600 homes, or 380 a year.
More than five years of land, on the council's last count. A June 2025 paper put the supply at 5.49 years.
Growth pushed to the edges. The plan rolled back the inner Green Belt boundary, in several places together with North Hertfordshire and East Hertfordshire, to make room for new neighbourhoods.

For a landowner, Stevenage works differently from the rural districts around it. Most opportunities are inside the town or at its edges, and many of the edges belong to a neighbouring council.

Stevenage in Figures

The government's latest figures for the council, and where its local plan stands.

Housing Delivery Test 2025
78%
Below 85%: a 20% buffer is added to its five-year housing land supply.
Homes built against homes needed
956
of 1,219 needed, April 2022 to March 2025
Most recent strategic plan adopted
May 2019
More than five years old, so its housing figures are usually replaced by the government's standard method.
New plan progress
Updated
Partial update to the 2019 plan adopted 22 July 2026, keeping its housing requirement; a full new plan is to follow
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.

One Plan, Two Adoption Dates

The figures panel on this page uses the Planning Inspectorate's monitoring data, which records the plan as adopted in May 2019 and so 7 years old. The council's own website tells a newer story. An inspector reported on 27 May 2026 that the partial update was sound with main modifications, and the council adopted it on 22 July 2026.

Both are right about what they measure. The 2019 date is when the plan's strategy and site allocations were first adopted, and the monitoring data follows that. The update was narrower: according to the inspector, it dealt with climate change, homes for older people and wheelchair users, affordable housing, flexibility in the town centre and the Station Gateway area. The inspector also confirmed that the housing requirement was unchanged, and examined the update against the December 2023 version of national policy because its requirement was more than 80% of local need under the newer standard method.

Why the Difference Matters

Under national policy, a plan older than five years usually has its housing figure replaced by the standard method. The update has just re-examined the requirement and kept it, so an argument that the plan is simply out of date would be weak here. It is safer to treat the updated plan as carrying full weight until the new one replaces it.

What a 78% Result Means in a Built-Up Borough

The result places Stevenage in the middle band of the Housing Delivery Test. It is not low enough for national policy to treat unmet need as proven, which is what opens the policy S5 route beyond settlement edges without further evidence, and the council last reported more than five years of supply. The 20% buffer is the practical consequence: the council must identify more land than its basic requirement to stay above five years.

In a borough this compact, with its main growth already planned, the useful routes are these:

Land inside the town. Policy S4 applies within settlements, and approval should follow unless the harm would substantially outweigh the benefits. Yards, garages, former commercial sites, backland and large gardens are all judged on that footing.
Remaining Green Belt at the edges. Green Belt land here needs to qualify as grey belt, and any scheme on it must satisfy the Golden Rules on affordable homes, infrastructure and green space, both tested in our grey belt guide.
The new local plan. With a larger housing figure to meet, the council will need to look again at where homes can go, including land it has not allocated before.

Windfall sites have already done a lot of work here. The council's June 2025 housing paper records 1,323 homes from windfall permissions between 2019 and 2024, far above the plan's allowance, which shows how much small urban land can contribute. Our page on brownfield and yards sets out the kinds of sites we look at inside towns.

The New Neighbourhoods at the Edges

Beyond the town centre, the plan's growth sits in new neighbourhoods at the edges, and the northern one runs across the borough boundary. The council's June 2025 paper sets out where its own sites stood, and North Hertfordshire's masterplan page covers the land on its side.

Area	Planned homes	Progress
West of Stevenage (policy HO2)	About 1,500	First phase of 390 homes, 117 affordable, given detailed permission in November 2024; later phases expected from late 2027
North of Stevenage (policy HO3)	Over 800	Early phases under construction, with further phases scheduled between 2025 and 2028
Town centre regeneration (SG1)	About 1,707	First phase of 760 homes progressing, later phases through to 2031
North of Stevenage in Graveley parish, North Hertfordshire	About 900	Masterplan approved by North Hertfordshire in November 2024; outline application submitted December 2023 and decided separately

Why the Town Centre Figure Varies

The adopted plan speaks of 3,000 new homes in the town centre, while the June 2025 paper counts about 1,707 for SG1. The likeliest explanation is that SG1 is one regeneration programme within the centre, while the plan's figure covers the whole centre over the plan period. Either way, the centre is expected to carry a large share of the borough's homes.

Forster Country

The land north of the town has a literary history. The adopted plan gives part of the North Stevenage site conservation area status to protect the setting of Rooks Nest, the childhood home of E. M. Forster and the setting he drew on for Howards End. Heritage of this kind shapes layout and open space rather than ruling out homes altogether.

Costs a Stevenage Scheme Carries

Every permission in the borough comes with obligations, and several are set locally. They come out of the value of a scheme, which is why we allow for them from the outset:

Affordable homes. The plan aims to deliver up to 40% of new housing as affordable housing.
Climate policies. The council has committed to a net zero borough by 2030, and the updated plan requires new development to achieve net zero regulated operational emissions, with some built-in flexibility.

Section 106 agreements add payments for schools, transport and health on larger schemes, and our guide to section 106 and CIL explains how they sit alongside the Community Infrastructure Levy. None of these costs fall on you under our agreements, because we carry the planning and its costs through to a decision, including any appeal.

The Next Twelve Months in Stevenage

The Next Housing Delivery Test

The government publishes the test once a year. The Housing Delivery Test 2025 was published on 17 August 2026 and covers April 2022 to March 2025. If the next result fell below 75%, unmet need would be treated as proven under policy S5. If it rose to 85% or more, the 20% buffer would fall away. Stevenage's land supply paper of May 2024 was written when the council's latest result was 57%, so the direction of travel since has been upward, but we make no forecast.

Land Supply

The most recent published figure we have found is the June 2025 paper's 5.49 years for April 2024 to March 2029, which already includes a 20% buffer. The May 2024 update had put the same period at 5.59 years; the later paper counts fewer homes as deliverable, 4,664 rather than 4,755. The council has not published a date for its next statement.

An Entirely New Plan

The adopted update records the council's commitment to producing an entirely new Local Plan immediately after it. Its June 2025 timetable expected scoping work to begin at the end of 2025 or early 2026, and the inspector noted that the future role of the Graveley Road site will be reconsidered in that plan. The new plan must reckon with a higher figure: the council's June 2025 paper put local housing need under the December 2024 standard method at 478 homes a year, against the 380 in the current plan. With little open land inside the boundary, how that gap is met, and with which neighbours, is the central question.

Reorganisation, Paused

In July 2026 the government decided that Stevenage would join most of North Hertfordshire and most of Welwyn Hatfield in a new Central Hertfordshire council. A letter from the local government minister on 7 September 2026 told councils to cease work on the July decision while the government reviews it, and said the May 2027 elections will go ahead on existing council boundaries. Until there is a final decision, Stevenage Borough Council keeps making its own plan. If a Central Hertfordshire council does go ahead, the town and the North Hertfordshire land around much of it would come under one planning authority.

What It Means for Timing

Inside the town, a sound proposal can go in now under policy S4. For edge land, the new plan is the main event, and getting evidence in front of the council at its first stages is worth more than arriving late. Our guide to call for sites and local plans explains how those stages work.

Questions About Land in Stevenage

My field is just outside the borough boundary. Who decides on it?

North Hertfordshire or East Hertfordshire, depending on which side of the town it is on, under their own plans. Land there can still be shaped by Stevenage's growth, which is why we look at both councils' positions in our review.

Does the July 2026 update change anything for my land?

It kept the housing requirement and updated policies on climate change, affordable housing, homes for older people and the town centre. Those affect the design and cost of a scheme more than where homes can go.

The council says it has more than five years of land. Is it still worth talking to you?

Yes. Land inside the town is judged under policy S4 whatever the supply figure, and the new plan will need more land than the current one. We review land across the borough and its edges, and we pay for the planning work on every site we take forward.

I own a yard or an old commercial unit in the town. Could it become homes?

Often it can be considered, because policy S4 favours development within settlements. The plan's other policies still apply, including any protecting employment land, so the case depends on the site, its current use and its neighbours. We check all of that before recommending a route.

When will the council ask for sites for the new plan?

It has committed to starting the new plan straight after the update, but we have not seen a published date for a call for sites. We watch for it and put forward the land we are working on as soon as it opens. The Hertfordshire page shows how the neighbouring councils' plans compare.

Tell Us About Your Land in Stevenage

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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.