Staffordshire council area

Selling Land in Newcastle-Under-Lyme

Checked on 29 September 2026

Newcastle-under-Lyme adopted its own Local Plan 2020 to 2040 in July 2026, ending the strategy it shared with Stoke-on-Trent and taking eleven allocated sites out of the North Staffordshire Green Belt, from Talke to Junction 16 of the M6. Even with a 20% buffer it shows 7.57 years of housing land, so most fields here are decided through the plan, and work on its successor is on hold.

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In short

We buy land in Newcastle-under-Lyme and welcome land of every kind there: fields and paddocks, inherited land, old yards and larger holdings.

Newcastle-under-Lyme can show 7.57 years of housing land, more than the five years national policy expects, and built 94% of the homes it needed in the government's latest count. So the surest routes here are the local plan, for land on the edge of towns and villages, and sites within them, where national policy generally supports new homes. Its local plan dates from July 2026.

We look for 2 acres or more next to, or well related to, a town or village, with a road frontage or a way to get one.

The next step is a free, confidential desktop review. We tell you which route, if any, suits your land, with no obligation.

Newcastle-Under-Lyme 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
94%
Below 95%: the council must publish an action plan to improve delivery.
Five-year housing land supply
7.57 years
Five years or more of deliverable housing land. Position at 1 April 2026, measured against the Local Plan 2020 to 2040 requirement of 400 homes a year, plus a 20% buffer. Stated by Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council.
Checked source
Homes built against homes needed
974
of 1,035 needed, April 2022 to March 2025
Most recent strategic plan adopted
July 2026
The plan currently used to decide applications.
New plan progress
Latest step
Local Plan 2020 to 2040 adopted 8 July 2026; on 23 June 2026 Cabinet resolved not to take a new plan to 2045 forward until the outcome of local government reorganisation is known; the Keele neighbourhood plan was submitted on 12 June 2026 and published for comment from 3 August to 28 September 2026
Checked source

See how Newcastle-under-Lyme compares with the other 166 councils we cover

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.

The Land We Look for in Newcastle-Under-Lyme

Plots, backland and larger gardens inside the boundaries of Newcastle-under-Lyme, Kidsgrove, Talke and Butt Lane.
Former works, yards and depots in the towns and in Silverdale, Chesterton and Knutton.
Land within or on the edge of the rural centres, from Audley and Madeley to Baldwins Gate and Loggerheads.
Green Belt fields enclosed by roads or housing next to the released sites at Talke, Silverdale, Harriseahead and Keele, for the next plan.
Larger holdings in the south of the borough, outside the Green Belt, that a new plan starting from the government's higher figure may need.

A council with five years in hand is not a reason to wait. The government's figure for the borough, 559 homes a year, is well above the 400 this plan provides, and a new plan would start from it. Land that arrives with access, drainage, ecology and landscape evidence done is land a council can allocate with confidence. That work is ours to fund, from surveys to any appeal. You grant an option at a price fixed on day one, above today's current-use value; you farm or let the field until completion, and if planning fails it is still yours, with nothing to repay. Our how it works page shows each step.

The planning detail in full

Two Towns, a University and a Green Belt Across the North

The towns sit in the east of the borough, beside Stoke-on-Trent: Newcastle-under-Lyme first, Kidsgrove (with Talke and Butt Lane) second, with the villages in the more rural west and south. It covers about 211 square kilometres, had 127,727 residents in 2024 and borders Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire Moorlands, Stafford, Shropshire and Cheshire East, according to Wikipedia.

Six rural centres. Below the two towns, policy PSD2 of the new plan names Audley and Bignall End, Baldwins Gate, Betley and Wrinehill, Keele Village with the university, Loggerheads, and Madeley with Madeley Heath.
Green Belt in the north. The plan says the North Staffordshire Green Belt covers the northern half of the borough, joining the Green Belt in Cheshire East and Stafford.
Keele University. Founded as a college at Keele Hall in 1949, a university since 1962, west of the town.
Delivery below target. The Housing Delivery Test 2025 counted 974 homes against 1,035 required, a result of 94%.
More homes on brownfield land. The council's monitoring report records 329 net new homes in 2023/24 and 456 in 2024/25, with 55.92% and then 62.93% on brownfield land.

For a landowner the dividing line is the Green Belt, which governs around Kidsgrove, Audley, Silverdale and Keele unless the plan has taken land out; in the rural south, around Baldwins Gate and Loggerheads, land beyond the villages generally falls under policy PSD4.

A 20% Buffer, and the Supply Still Clears It

The council's Five-Year Housing Land Supply Update Report, published in August 2026, finds 7.57 years from 1 April 2026:

Source: Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council, Five-Year Housing Land Supply Update Report 2026 to 2031 (August 2026), table 5 and summary.
Step	Council's figure
Requirement in the new Local Plan	400 homes a year, 2,000 over five years
Shortfall carried forward	None
Buffer	20%, or 400 homes
Five-year requirement with the buffer	2,400 homes (480 a year)
Deliverable supply identified	3,632 homes
Result	7.57 years

On our arithmetic the supply runs about 1,232 homes ahead. The largest share, 1,462 homes or about two fifths, is on the new plan's allocations, with 367 more on the sites its appendix 4 lists as commitments since 31 March 2023. Other permissions add 1,166, conversions 116, windfall 70, care housing one, and student accommodation 450, counted at 2.5 student units for each home released.

Why the Buffer Is 20% Here

The inspector examined the plan under the December 2023 framework, as the transitional rules allowed. Since 1 July 2026 a national rule, for decisions only, sets a 20% buffer when a housing requirement is less than five years old, was tested at examination under a framework earlier than December 2024, and equals 80% or less of the standard method figure. The statement puts that figure at 559 homes a year as of May 2026; 400 is about 72% of it on our arithmetic. Yet when the plan was published, the inspector notes, the standard method gave only 330.

The two delivery figures differ. The statement cites the 2023 result, 139%, as the latest available; the Housing Delivery Test 2025, published on 17 August 2026 just before the statement appeared, gives 94%. The newer result means an action plan is due, but it adds no buffer of its own, so the 20% stands either way.

Where That Leaves an Unallocated Field

Under the August 2026 framework, policy S5 is the route for homes beyond a settlement, on land well related to it and served by infrastructure, where unmet need is evidenced. Where delivery falls below 75%, that need is treated as evidenced; a five-year supply shortfall counts as evidence of unmet need for the decision maker to weigh, never as an automatic finding. Neither applies here today. S5 has no reach in the Green Belt, and grey belt housing there must show need of its own, usually through supply below five years or delivery under 75%; the borough shows neither. So most unallocated fields will wait for the next plan.

The 2026 Plan: 8,000 Homes and Eleven Sites Taken Out of the Green Belt

Policy PSD1 of the adopted Local Plan sets at least 8,000 homes from 2020 to 2040 and 63 hectares of employment land, and policy PSD3 spreads the homes:

Source: Newcastle-under-Lyme Local Plan 2020 to 2040, policy PSD3. The plan gives each figure as "in the order of".
Place	Homes the plan expects, roughly
Newcastle-under-Lyme	4,700
Kidsgrove	800
Keele and Keele University	800
Loggerheads	450
Baldwins Gate	250
Betley and Wrinehill, with Madeley and Madeley Heath	250
Audley and Bignall End	110

To meet the requirement in full, the inspector's report accepted exceptional circumstances for Green Belt change. Policy PSD5 removes land for eleven allocations, sets an inset boundary at Keele and releases land for Madeley High School. The inspector gives the homes on seven of them:

SP11 Lyme Park: 900 homes across four parcels on a former golf course between Silverdale and Keele, set in land to be adopted as a country park.
SP23 Cemetery Road: 200 homes.
TK10 Crown Bank, Talke: 170 homes.
BL18 Clough Hall: 150 homes.
NC13 Bullockhouse Road, Harriseahead: 100 homes.
TK27 Coppice Road, Talke: 90 homes.
AB15 north of Vernon Avenue: 33 homes.

The other four are AB2 at Junction 16 of the M6, KL15 south of the A525 at Keele, TK17 off St Martins Road and TB19 south of Newcastle Golf Club. Schemes on land taken out must include compensatory improvements to the environmental quality and accessibility of the Green Belt that remains. The updated trajectory showed at least 8,425 developable homes.

The Allocations That Fell Away

Five housing allocations were deleted. At Diglake Street (AB12) and at Nantwich Road and Park Lane in Audley (AB33), the landowners told the examination that their sites were no longer available; Red Street in Chesterton failed on Green Belt harm; Castletown Grange was no longer put forward, and Blackbank Road was not shown to be surplus to requirements. An allocation rests on evidence that the land will come forward, and a committed landowner is part of it.

Keele: A Science Park, a Former Golf Course and a Village Inset

Policy PSD1 names land beside the university as one of two strategic employment sites, for expanding the science park, and the plan's employment table lists KL13, Keele University Science Park, at 11 hectares and KL15, south of the A525, at 13 hectares. The council's statement of 30 June 2026 presents these mixed-use allocations as serving the university's ambitions for a science and innovation district.

Policy PSD5 draws a Green Belt inset boundary at Keele Village, a joint rural centre with the campus; the plan's supporting text points to the university and its need to grow and expand. Towards Silverdale, Lyme Park turns a former golf course into homes within a country park.

A Neighbourhood Plan in the Making

Keele Parish Council submitted its neighbourhood plan on 12 June 2026, and the borough published it for comment from 3 August to 28 September 2026.

Kidsgrove, Talke, Audley and Junction 16

Kidsgrove, one urban centre with Talke and Butt Lane in the plan, is expected to take about 800 homes, and Green Belt releases at Crown Bank and Coppice Road in Talke sit within it, with St Martins Road (TK17) and Clough Hall (BL18) also among the eleven. Audley and Bignall End are down for only about 110 homes, after the Park Lane allocation in Audley was deleted.

A Logistics Site the Neighbours Objected To

The largest employment allocation is AB2, 80 hectares at Junction 16 of the M6 for sub-regional, logistics-focused employment, the second strategic employment site in policy PSD1. Cheshire East Council objected, the inspector records, fearing extra pressure on housing need in its own borough. It stayed in the plan.

A Joint Strategy Retired, and a Successor Already Asked For

The plan replaces the Core Spatial Strategy of 2009, prepared jointly with Stoke-on-Trent, and the borough's older local plan. They remain one housing market area, but the inspector records that each will meet its own housing need.

The inspector's report is dated 19 May 2026, which the council says was the day before a new administration took office. Told the report could not be amended, the administration recommended adoption as the safer course, warning that without a plan applications could come forward anywhere, even in the Green Belt. Full Council adopted it in July 2026.

The Review the Plan Already Faces

The inspector noted that the council is one of several directed by the Secretary of State to start plan-making under the new system by 30 June 2026, and expected an update to the plan in a little over three years. The June 2026 cabinet report gives the reason: a plan submitted by 12 March 2025 that provides for less than 80% of local housing need is expected to be followed by a new one.

Officers put a timetable for a plan to 2045 to cabinet on 23 June 2026. Cabinet resolved instead not to take the new plan forward until the outcomes and implications of local government reorganisation are known, which leaves the next call for sites undated. The council's call for sites pages ask for housing sites of five or more homes and give no guarantee that a submitted site will be taken forward.

The Routes That Fit a Borough With Its Five Years in Hand

With five years in hand, the plan is the main route for open land, but several routes do not depend on the numbers:

Inside the settlement boundaries of the two towns and six rural centres, policy S4 of the national framework applies: approval unless the harm would substantially outweigh the benefits.
Brownfield land. The council says the plan steers development to brownfield sites in and around the town centres. Our brownfield and yards page explains what we look for.
Small sites in the countryside. Policy PSD4 allows the infill of a small gap with one or two homes in an otherwise built-up frontage, the re-use of rural buildings under policy RUR5, and rural exception sites under policy HOU8 and community-led exception sites under policy HOU9.
Previously developed land in the Green Belt. Lawful non-farm buildings or hardstanding are treated differently from open fields. Our grey belt guide covers the Green Belt purposes and the Golden Rules.
Through the next plan. Larger fields on the edges of the towns and rural centres are best prepared for it; our guide to local plans and calls for sites explains the stages.

On sites of ten homes or more, or of at least half a hectare, policy HOU1 asks for 30% affordable housing on greenfield land and 15% or 25% on brownfield land, depending on its value zone.

Between Two Plans, and Two Tiers of Government

The Delivery Test and the Next Statement

The delivery test is refreshed yearly. At 94% the borough is in the action plan band; below 85% would add a 20% buffer on delivery grounds, and below 75% would treat unmet need as evidenced under policy S5. A new supply statement normally follows each year, and the 20% buffer rule lasts only while the requirement is under five years old.

A Plan to 2045 on Hold

The timetable put to cabinet in June 2026 would have run a scoping consultation from 10 August to 21 September 2026 and Gateway 1 on 30 October 2026, with submission on 30 October 2028 and adoption on 1 May 2029. Cabinet's resolution leaves those dates as a proposal, not a programme the council has taken forward.

A Northern Unitary Council, Paused

On 16 July 2026 the county council reported the government's decision that two unitary councils would replace the present ones, with a northern council covering Newcastle-under-Lyme, Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire Moorlands, expected in April 2028. After the government launched a national review on 7 September 2026, Stafford Borough Council reported that the Staffordshire reorganisation had been put on hold. Meanwhile the borough decides applications on its 2026 plan; our Staffordshire page compares it with its neighbours.

What That Means for Timing

Settlement and brownfield sites can be looked at now; open land is best prepared before the next call for sites.

Questions About Land in Newcastle-Under-Lyme

My Green Belt field near Audley was not allocated. Could it count as grey belt now?

It may meet the definition, but homes there also need evidenced need, which the borough's supply and delivery figures do not show today. The next plan is the likelier route, and we can prepare the evidence for it.

The Park Lane allocation in Audley was dropped when its owner withdrew. Can my land take its place?

Not in this plan, whose allocations are now fixed. With Audley and Bignall End expecting only about 110 homes, a well placed site with its evidence ready is worth putting forward at the next call for sites.

The government puts need at 559 homes a year but the plan says 400. Which applies to my land?

For applications, the adopted 400 a year with a 20% buffer, while the plan is under five years old. The 559 figure is where a new plan would start.

I own land near Keele University. Does the science park allocation affect me?

It can. The inspector ties a new link through to Whitmore Road to KL15 and TB19, and the Keele neighbourhood plan will add local policies once made. Both bear on access to nearby land.

Is land around Loggerheads or Baldwins Gate in the Green Belt?

The plan places the North Staffordshire Green Belt across the northern half of the borough, while both villages sit in the rural south, so land around them is generally judged as open countryside under policy PSD4. The plan expects about 450 homes at Loggerheads and 250 at Baldwins Gate.

What price will you pay for my land?

We agree a fixed price with you at the start, before any planning work begins, and it is set above what your land is worth today. We cannot name a figure before we have looked at your land, because it depends on the site itself: its size, its access, how many homes it could take and the costs that come off land value, such as affordable housing, road works and drainage. After the free desktop review we can talk about a price, and once agreed it is written into the agreement.

When would I be paid?

You receive the agreed price on completion, once planning permission has been secured. The agreement sets out the milestones along the way, and it continues while any planning application or appeal is being decided. Until completion you carry on using your land as you do now, and we pay for all of the planning. If permission is not granted, you keep your land and owe nothing.

Tell Us About Your Land in Newcastle-Under-Lyme

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, by phone or email, whichever you prefer.
The desktop review is free and confidential, with no obligation.
If we agree terms, we pay for all of the planning, which on a larger site can reach £300,000.

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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.