Introduction and consultation

Find information about the Leeds Local Plan 2040 consultation that ran from Friday 10 February until Friday 24 March 2023.

What is a Local Plan?

The Leeds Local Plan is made up of a number of documents that contain planning policies that guide the amount and location of development in the Leeds district. 

It also includes more detailed topic-specific policies that will guide different types of development, and make sure that priorities such as design, green space, heritage, infrastructure, flood risk management are considered during decision making.

We are required to review our planning policies every 5 years, to check they are still working, relevant and fit for purpose, and to identify any policy gaps that may have arisen. Following a review of all our Local Plan policies in 2020, a number of policies requiring update were identified.

The Local Plan for Leeds is being updated in 2 stages:

  1. Policies that directly relate to addressing the climate emergency (including carbon reduction, flood risk, green and blue infrastructure, place-making and sustainable infrastructure) are being addressed through the Local Plan Update – Your Neighbourhood Your City Your Planet.

    This targeted update is now at an advanced stage of preparation, and will soon be submitted to the Government for examination.

  2. Other policy areas will be addressed through the Leeds Local Plan 2040 (as set out below).

    This is currently at an early stage of preparation, and this consultation seeks your views on what this plan should contain.

About the current consultation

This current stage is a 'scoping' consultation, where we seek views on what the plan could address and what it should aim to achieve. This is a very early stage of plan-making where you can influence the direction of travel before any decisions are made.

Based on those topic areas we know we have to update because they are out-of-date or no longer needed, as well as potential policy gaps that are not covered in the current Local Plan, we have produced a list of 7 topic areas that we think the scope of the update could address:

The aim of this consultation is to get your views on whether you agree with this scope, and whether there are any areas we may have missed.

At this early stage we don't know how much land might be developed over the plan period (2022-2040), although we do expect that in order to meet the needs of our residents and businesses up to 2040, the Leeds Local Plan 2040 will probably need to identify additional land for development. So that we can look at all potential options for this – and chose the most suitable sites where they are most needed – we also want to hear from anyone who has any suggestions for sites that should be considered when we are developing the Local Plan. This is known as the Call for sites.

What you can influence

We want to know what you think about the topics we are proposing to include in the Leeds Local Plan Update 2040, as well as suggestions for any other possible topic areas, or evidence that we should be looking at to inform our research. We also want to know what you value about your local area, and how you think it could be developed in the future. Please use our survey at the bottom of this page to share your views.

We also want to hear from you if you have any suggestions for sites that should be considered when we are developing the Leeds Local Plan 2040. This could include sites that you think might be suitable for development of a wide range of uses – such as housing (including market led housing development, affordable housing and specialist types of housing, including for Gypsy and Travellers and Travelling Showpersons), industrial and commercial development, community uses, tourism, minerals, waste, renewable energy and energy storage, or a mix of uses. You don't need to own the land in question; we welcome suggestions from residents and community groups too. The 'Call for Sites' page can be found on our main LLP 2040 homepage.

Supporting documents and guidance

To view the proposals for the Leeds Local Plan 2040 the following documents are available:

We have a number of short videos, including an introduction to the consultation and one for each topic area, as well as a summary version of the Scoping Document to help to make it easier for people to understand the document and make comments.

The 'Call for Sites' process involves a new online mapping tool which allows you to select the site in question, and add any notes about specific site requirements or possible uses.

Consultation

The consultation ran for a period of 6 weeks starting on Friday 10 February and finishing on Friday 24 March 2023.

The consultation closed on Friday 24 March 2023.

Further information can be found in our Statement of Representation (PDF, 164KB).

Public drop-in sessions

We held some public information sessions where people could come and talk to us, ask questions and find out some more information about any part of the consultation. 

The events were held at the following locations:

Date Time Location
Friday 24 February 11am to 2pm Merrion Centre
Saturday 4 March 11am to 2pm Kirkgate Market event space - Market Kitchen
Saturday 11 March 11am to 2pm
 Trinity Shopping Centre
The consultation closed on Friday 24 March 2023.

Next steps

All comments submitted during the consultation, along with evidence and further research, will be considered and used to inform the scope of the Leeds Local Plan 2040. The issues that the Plan need to address and what the potential options for doing this will be identified, and there will be a further round on public consultation on these 'Issues and Options' later in 2023.

If the evidence indicates that there is a need for new land allocations to be identified, the site suggestions made through the 'Call for Sites' process will undergo a detailed assessment of their suitability, and those that could be considered suitable for development will be also be published for consultation at the 'Issues and Options' stage.