Sheffield taking part in pilot scheme to help build more homes on smaller plots of land

Sheffield is taking part in a pilot scheme that aims to match up small building plots of land on brownfield sites with developers.

The city council said it has already identified a number of potential sites for such developments, able to accommodate up to 15 homes on each one. Some smaller sites can only fit in less than five houses.

Sheffield is one of three local authorities involved in the government’s two-year pilot of its Small Sites Aggregator scheme, alongside Bristol and the London Borough of Lewisham.

The government’s Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) has come up with the plan to help meet its ambition of building 1.5 million new homes, which it says will help to deliver investment and economic growth. The support for small and medium-sized building firms will include a £100 million accelerator loans fund.

A consultation process will take place to decide on the viability of the council-owned sites identified for inclusion in the plan. The aim is to give better access to smaller plots of brownfield land which are usually challenging to develop.

Other proposals announced include streamlining the rules for getting permission to build developments of up to nine homes. Planning officials will make decisions on the schemes, rather than the council’s planning committee.

Sites delivering between 10 and 49 homes will also face simpler rules and fewer costs. These include a proposed exemption from the Building Safety Levy, which will be charged from autumn 2026 to cover the cost of safety issues.

Simplified rules will govern the need for builders to deliver natural habitats that create a biodiversity net gain on their sites.

Government agency Homes England will release more of its land exclusively to small and medium-sized developers.

Kate Martin, council executive director for City Futures, said: “We were delighted to have the opportunity to work with MHCLG on this exciting pilot scheme to accelerate the development of these smaller plots of land to meet our city’s housing demand.

“We already have our own Small Sites Programme that aims to increase housing supply of all tenures on small parcels of underutilised Housing Revenue Account (HRA) land. But small sites can be challenging to develop, with small build numbers making viability often an issue.

“This pilot scheme will help us to accelerate and develop more of these sites right across the city.”