Site Allocations Plan

The Site Allocations Plan (SAP) is a key document in the Local Plan for Leeds. The SAP identifies sites for housing, employment, retail and greenspace to ensure that enough land is available in appropriate locations to meet the growth targets set out in the Core Strategy.

This includes, as appropriate, any onsite requirements developers will be expected to provide, for example greenspace and local infrastructure (roads, schools, and flood storage). It also sets out which sites will come forward at what stage (known as phasing).

Adopted Plan

The Site Allocations Plan (SAP) was originally adopted by the council on 10 July 2019. In 2020 the Site Allocations Plan was the subject of a High Court challenge. Subsequently the plan was changed by the Remittal process involving 37 polices of the SAP. The remitted part of the SAP amended the adopted SAP 2019 by deleting 36 sites returning them to the Green Belt and allocating 1 Green Belt site for employment use.

The Site Allocations Plan 2019 (as amended 2024) was adopted by the council on the 17 January 2024.

Both the original Site Allocations Plan 2019 and Remitted parts of the Site Allocations Plan 2019 (as amended 2024) were subject to public examination and found sound by the inspectors appointed to oversee the public examination process, subject to the inclusion of the main modifications set out in appendices to their reports. See the Inspectors report documents for full details.

Supporting information

Site Allocations Plan Designations
SAP Remittal 2024

Key stages of the process are below.              

Find out more about the ongoing SAP Remittal independent examination and the Inspector's Report.

Leeds City Council submitted 39 Proposed Main Modifications to the Remitted part of the Leeds Site Allocations to the Secretary of State for Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on 26 March 2021 for independent examination.              

The Inspector has considered all representations, including those made at the examination hearing sessions from 14 to 17 September 2021 and that of hearing session of 18 May 2022 and proposed main modifications to the SAP.           

Previous consultation

On behalf of the Inspector, the council invited comments on two rounds of Inspector's main modifications:           

The Inspector will take all these representations into account before finally concluding whether the council's proposals are sound and legally compliant and can be recommended for adoption.              

The Site Allocations Plan (SAP) was adopted on 10 July 2019.  There was a period of 6 weeks following the date of adoption of a plan for any person aggrieved with the SAP to submit a high court challenge on statutory grounds.              

Aireborough Neighbourhood Development Forum submitted a challenge to the Plan on 20 August 2019, which was heard in the High Court in February 2020.           

The High Court issued its decision on 8 June 2020 and ordered relief on 7 August 2020. See the judgement below.               

The effect of this relief is that all housing sites (including mixed use sites) that, immediately before the adoption of the SAP were in the green belt, (37 sites) will be remitted back to the Secretary of State and the Planning Inspectorate for further examination.            

During this remittal process these 37 housing sites will be considered as not adopted and as such will return to the green belt until re-examined. The remainder of the SAP remains adopted and carries full weight. The sites are listed below.              

Council's proposed main modifications

This consultation closed on 16 February 2021. Find out more about the Council's proposed main modifications and SAP Remittal Sustainability Appraisal Addendum.

SAP July 2019

Timeline

The SAP has been through various stages in its preparation:

Issues and Options - June to July 2013

Public consultation on all of the issues and options for the SAP took place from June to July 2013. Over 7,000 comments in objection or support for sites were received during this time.              

See the Issues and options page to view the consultation documents, comments received and the consultation report.              

SAP Publication Draft Consultation - September to November 2015

The SAP Publication Draft was subject to formal public consultation for eight weeks from September until 16 November 2015.              

See the Publication Draft Plan page for the draft plan, background documents and proposed sites, responses from the consultation and Development Plan Panel reports.

Outer North East revised Publication Draft consultation - September to November 2016

Following the withdrawal of a new settlement proposal at site MX2-33 Headley Hall by the landowner in September 2015, the council consulted on the revised proposals for the Outer North East Housing Market Characteristic Area (HMCA) between 26th September till 7th November 2016. This consultation was to bring this part of the plan in line with rest of the SAP.              

View the consultation and background documents on the Revised Publication Draft - Outer North East page.

Pre-submission changes advertisement - February to March 2017

As a result of the public consultations on the Publication draft plan and Outer North East revised draft plan, a number of changes were proposed in order to address matters of soundness before the SAP was submitted to the secretary of state – these are the pre-submission changes.              

The pre-Submission changes were advertised and comments sought from February to March 2017. Find out more and view relevant documents on the pre-submission changes page.

Submission Draft Plan - May 2017

The initial Submission Draft Plan was submitted to the Secretary of State by the council on 5th May 2017. The Submission Draft Plan includes pre-submission changes made in response to the representations received on the publication of the Plan. The Plan also includes further minor changes, none of which alter the meaning of the Plan.              

The Secretary of State appointed Independent Inspectors to examine the Plan for soundness under section 20 of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004.              

Find out more and see the relevant submission draft plan documents on the submission draft plan page.

Revised Submission Draft Plan - March 2018

The council submitted a Revised Submission Draft SAP (the "Revised Plan") to the Secretary of State on 23 March 2018 as part of the ongoing independent examination.

The Revised Plan includes revised policies relating to:              

  • housing allocations
  • broad locations
  • safeguarded land
  • phasing and associated explanatory text

All of these were subject to consultation between 15th January 2018 and 26th February 2018.              

Proposed main modifications consultation - January to March 2019

The Inspectors of the Leeds Site Allocations Plan identified that there is a need for Main Modifications in order to ensure that the Plan is sound. On behalf of the inspectors, the council carried out a consultation on whether these Main Modifications will rectify any issues of soundness.              

This consultation ended at 5pm Monday 4 March.

Find out more about the proposed main modifications consultation and see the consultation documents.

Examination of the Plan - October 2017 to present

See the Examination page for details including:              

  • information on the Inspectors and Programmer Officer
  • updates on the examination phase, including the revised submission draft plan

After the hearing sessions, the Inspector may suggest further modifications. If so, these will need to be consulted on for a minimum of 6 weeks.

Inspectors' Report

On the 7 June 2019, the council received the Site Allocations Plan Inspectors' Report, which can can viewed on the Inspectors' Report page.