Lichfield district must plan for 769 homes a year, 15,380 by 2046. The scoping consultation closes at 5pm on 5 October and the call for sites on 30 November.

Lichfield District Council has started work on a plan that has to find room for at least 15,380 new homes by 2046. Two consultations opened on Monday 7 September. The first closes in under four weeks.

The council calls it the Lichfield District Local Plan 2046, and it will replace the plan adopted in February 2015. The scoping consultation asks what the plan should contain. A separate call for sites asks landowners and residents to nominate land.

The two deadlines are different, and both are in the council’s own summary document:

  • Scoping consultation: closes at 5pm on Monday 5 October 2026.
  • Call for sites: closes on Monday 30 November 2026.

The numbers the plan has to hit

The council’s scoping consultation summary sets out what it is planning for over the twenty years to 2046:

  • at least 769 homes a year, which the council puts at over 15,300 homes across the plan period
  • a minimum of 15,380 homes and 7 Gypsy and Traveller pitches by 2046, as a draft measurable outcome
  • over 120 hectares of employment land, 45 hectares of it in new locations outside the district’s existing industrial estates
  • a population up 13%, an increase of about 15,000 people
  • an economy up 8%, creating roughly 4,000 jobs

The housing figure is set by the government, not the council, and it keeps moving. Cabinet was told in May that the April 2025 rewrite of national planning policy had lifted the district’s target from 289 homes a year to 746, an increase of 158 per cent (decision record). The council’s own five year housing land supply statement, published in January 2026, still used 746. This month’s scoping document uses 769.

That same January statement recorded 2,744 deliverable homes at 1 April 2025, which it worked out as 3.5 years of supply against a five year requirement of 3,917.

New settlements are explicitly on the table

The council does not name a single site in this consultation, and says so. It is more candid about the direction of travel. Its summary document says work is under way on how much growth can go on previously developed land, then adds:

We also need to consider the possibility of delivering new settlements in the district, as it is likely there is not enough brownfield land to meet our long term development needs which are set by national government.

The council is equally blunt about what is already under pressure. The same document says the district’s infrastructure, “its roads, schools, utilities, and healthcare provision”, is “currently strained”. It says house prices in the district are 27% above the national average and that there are not enough genuinely affordable homes to meet demand.

Councillor Alex Farrell, Cabinet Member for Housing and the Local Plan, said in the council’s announcement on 9 September that there are “national requirements we have to plan for, but there are important decisions to make locally too”.

The 2024 consultation does not carry over

Anyone who answered the council’s Issues and Options consultation in late 2024 should know where that work now stands. That exercise was part of a plan running to 2043. The council’s own page says it “does not form part of the Government’s new Local Plan system”, though the feedback and evidence will still inform future work “where relevant”.

Cabinet chose the new route in May 2026. The alternative was to push the 2043 plan to submission by December 2026 with an incomplete evidence base, at the risk of being found unsound at examination. The trade is a later adoption date.

Lichfield District Local Plan 2046 timetable The council's published timetable runs from the scoping consultation closing on 5 October 2026, through the call for sites closing 30 November 2026, the first draft plan consultation in June and July 2027, the proposed plan consultation from March to May 2028, submission for examination on 15 September 2028, and adoption on 1 April 2029. Two deadlines now. The plan is not adopted until 2029. Source: Lichfield District Local Plan 2046 timetable, in effect 30 June 2026. 5 Oct 2026 30 Nov 2026 Jun to Jul 2027 Mar to May 2028 15 Sep 2028 1 Apr 2029 Scoping consultation closes, 5pm Call for sites closes First draft plan consultation Proposed plan consultation Submitted for examination Adopted The two dates in bold above are the only ones residents can act on this year. Everything after them is a later stage. Gateway assessments by the government fall on 31 Oct 2026, 4 Oct 2027 and 1 Aug 2028. Graphic by Lichfield Today
The council's published milestones for the Lichfield District Local Plan 2046.

What the council is actually asking

The scoping consultation runs to about 16 questions. They cover the spatial strategy, housing, the economy, Gypsy and Traveller needs, climate change, design, heritage, healthy communities, the natural environment, the Green Belt, transport, infrastructure and the evidence base.

The council has also published 12 draft priorities for the plan, and is asking whether they are the right ones:

  • match growth with infrastructure
  • deliver high value jobs
  • deliver affordable homes
  • prevent urban sprawl
  • sustainable transport options
  • support the rural economy
  • tackle climate change
  • more community spaces
  • connect green spaces
  • enhanced sports facilities
  • safeguard rural services
  • revitalise high streets

What it means for you

If you want a say on where growth goes, this is the stage before the map exists. No sites have been chosen. The consultation asks what the plan should weigh, and the answers feed the spatial strategy that decides which sites are considered next.

Two deadlines, not one. Comments on the scoping document and the draft engagement strategy close at 5pm on 5 October. The call for sites stays open until 30 November.

If you own land, or know a brownfield site, the old submission does not count. The council says the new online form must be filled in even for sites submitted before. Housing sites need to be capable of at least five homes. You can suggest a brownfield site even if you do not own it, and the council says it will investigate.

Submitting a site guarantees nothing. The council states plainly that submission “does not guarantee that it will be selected for development through the local plan”.

How to respond. All submissions go through the council’s online consultation portal. Printed representation forms are available by post for anyone with accessibility needs. Queries go to developmentplans@lichfielddc.gov.uk, by WhatsApp on 01543 308171, or on 01543 308000 asking for planning policy.

Planning decisions carry on as normal in the meantime. The council says applications will keep being assessed against the existing development plan and national policy.

Reorganisation is not stopping it. The council says the government has been clear that plan making should be prioritised and not delayed by local government reorganisation, and that further guidance is expected on how plan making transitions into future administrative structures.

Sources

More background on the district’s planning position is on our Lichfield planning news page, and current works are on Lichfield roadworks and travel.