There is only one week left to make a submission to the Issues and Options consultation for the Leeds Local Plan 2042 – closing date Monday, 15th September 2025. The consultations is aiming to allocated land for housing, employment and energy infrastructure – amongst other uses. Yet, again, Aireborough’s deliberately planned (in past strategic plans) tight Green Belt, that stops urban sprawl, maintains local character and stops countryside encroachment is under threat, whilst future plans for community infrastructure, traffic, and flooding are non-existent.
LCC’s Housing Plan
This initial consultation aims to firm up on the objectives of the Local Plan , but also to evaluate a range of sites for the Government imposed housing target of 3,851 addition dwellings per year up to 2029 – although LCC have extended this same annual figure to 2042 ! Of the new houses built, especially on Green Belt sites, it is planned that 40% of them will be Affordable Homes – that is homes for rent or sale especially for people who cannot afford market prices or rent levels. LCC particularly want to seem more homes built that will be available for social-rent. This policy, some argue, will push the dream of home ownership even further away for many people.
Government Changes to Green Belt Designation
Changes introduced in Planning Law at the beginning of 2025 mean the Government has made it much easier to build on Green Belt sites – as many will be reclassified as Grey Belt. LCC is yet to do a full Green Belt review to identify Grey Belt in the area but the bar has been lowered enough in planning regulations that Aireborough sites could well be in danger. A golden rule of the Government for Grey Belt sites is that a high proportion must be Affordable Homes. LCC says in its Objective 2 of the Local Plan that it wishes to “include land value capture from Green Belt sites” for the provision of affordable homes.
Council White Paper on Local Plan Concerns
There are already concerns by the opposition groups on Leeds City Council at the approach being taken to site allocations and assessments by LCC’s Administration. There is a White Paper motion being raised on the matter at the Full Council meeting on 10 September 2025. See here Item 12. You may wish to watch this debate on the LCC Full Council Live Video here starting at 3:37:31 before sending in our response. A short extract reads
Council has concerns about the administration’s suggested methodology for assessing sites for allocation in the revised Local Plan and believes several local policies now conflict with the NPPF, including housing mix, land use, biodiversity, renewable energy. Council believes for the Leeds Local Plan to be sustainable, all relevant strategies set out in the West Yorkshire Infrastructure Strategy and Spatial Development Strategy first need to be finalised and signed off by all West Yorkshire Authorities.
What You Can Do
The Issues and Options consultation is available to complete online here by Monday 15th September. You must register via the Log In to be able to submit your response. (After putting in your email you will get a code via email to put in a pop-up box. As this is timed, useful to use a computer/tablet for the log in and look at your email code on your phone.)
The full consultation is lengthy with 14 specific sections on different planning topics, each containing sub-sections with options for you to choose. In addition, there are links to current plans and the evidence base that LCC’s have use for their recommended options. These are mostly reasonably self explanatory. However, it is difficult to find specific information like proposed area housing targets – you will find that here. Aireborough is now in the Outer North West area.
However, if your main interest is the site allocations for Aireborough, which now falls under the Leeds Outer North West area, then scroll down the page to the SITE PROPOSALS AND CALL FOR SITES section.
Click on this, and then scroll down the page again until you come to OUTER NORTH WEST SITE ASSESSMENTS and click on this.
Here you will find a map of the sites being assessed (not all are Green Belt but the great majority are), and below are boxes for the individual sites. These include
- Haw Lane, Yeadon
- Milners Road, Yeadon
- Victoria Avenue, Yeadon
- Ings Lane, Guiseley
- Birks Farm, Ings Lane Guiseley
- White Cross, Guiseley
- Hollins Hill, Guiseley
- Three sites on Coach Road, Guiseley
- Two sites at Shaw Lane, Guiseley
- Wills Gill, Guiseley
- Chapel Croft, Menston
- Nether Yeadon
- Land around Leeds Bradford Airport
- Land around Rawdon Billing and New Road Side Rawdon
Click on a site you are interested in commenting on. You will then find LCC’s assessment of that site – this is quite difficult to understand, so you need to refer to the Assessment Methodology here.
However, you may prefer just to go straight to the comment section below, starting with the smiley faces, and have your say .
If you want to know what has been said on many of these sites in past consultations then you will find a lot of information in the ANDF’s past responses and posts on this site particularly here from 2017 and here from 2019 – and in this section here where there is an analysis of many of the initial SAP sites from 2015; or use our search button on a site name to find detailed posts.
General planning support information on Aireborough can be found under Aireborough Evidence Base in the training and reference section on the top headings this includes both a Landscape Character and Urban Character report.
We have produced a guide on how to comment here that you can print off. You do not have to write much, if anything, on the website, just register your views using the buttons provided as in the picture above. Your response will be counted.
You could also send a letter with your views to: Leeds Local Plan Consultation, Policy and Plans Group, Merrion House, 9th Floor East, 110 Merrion Centre, Leeds LS2 8BB
Or send an email to Leedslocalplan@leeds.gov.uk
AND, don’t forget to let Local Councillors for the different wards know your views as well. You will find emails here
Don’t forget If we save our crucial Green Belt again, you will have helped, if we fail at least we will have tried
Aireborough Neighbourhood Development Forum 
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