Rotherham told to plan for twice as many new homes under new government targets
The local authority has been told to build over 1,100 homes a year - under new targets
Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council will have to write a new local plan and review its Green Belt after the Government more than doubled the borough’s annual house building target.
The Local Plan is the blueprint that sets out where future housing, jobs and infrastructure should be built.
The borough’s current target is to allow for 544 newly built homes a year, but under new national rules introduced in December 2024 that figure has risen to 1,111. Planning inspectors have told the council the increase is so significant that a complete new plan is needed, rather than continuing with the part-finished update.
It means Rotherham Council must now set out from scratch where thousands of extra homes, jobs and infrastructure will go, with a process stretching through to 2029 – which is expected to cost more than £1m.
A timetable going before cabinet on 15 September sets out the key stages, beginning in October 2026, with two rounds of public consultation in 2027 and 2028, before submission to Government at the end of 2028. The plan would then be examined by inspectors in early 2029 and, if approved, adopted by the council in July that year.
A full review of the Green Belt will form part of the work, after the council secured £70,000 from a Government grant to support the process. The overall cost of producing the plan is expected to exceed £1 million, with a further £77,000 contribution required for Rotherham’s share of a new South Yorkshire Joint Waste Plan being drawn up with neighbouring councils.
Council officers have warned that pressing on with the old work would almost certainly fail inspection, leaving Rotherham open to planning appeals and with less control over where development happens. By agreeing the new timetable, councillors would begin a long but unavoidable process that will ultimately decide where thousands of new homes are built across the borough.