Leeds Local Plan Issues & Options Consultation Report

1. Background

The Leeds Local Plan (2024-2042) looks to replace existing planning policy and provide a revised long-term plan that will guide where and how sustainable development and growth takes place across the district. In Summer 2025 the Issues and Options consultation ran for 10 weeks from July to September 2025. The Issues & Options is an early stage of plan-making where input from stakeholders is gathered to help shape the plan’s priorities, vision and objectives. This high-level summary provides an overview of how the consultation was promoted, how people responded, and the headline issues raised.

Feedback was received from residents, community groups, businesses and other organisations across Leeds.

Thank you to everyone who took part. Your comments will help shape the next stage of the Local Plan. A more detailed consultation report will be published ahead of the draft Local Plan consultation planned for winter 2026/27 and will provide a summary of the key issues raised against the policy topics, site assessment methodology and initial draft site proposals and how comments have informed the local plan. 

Due to national changes the Leeds Local Plan will now be prepared under a new Plan-making system, different from the old system the previous consultation was based on.

For residents, this does not mean previous comments have been lost and you do not need to submit them again. What people have already told us will still help shape the Plan moving forward.

Going forward, the new system introduces a clearer timetable, new check-in points with the Planning Inspectorate, and further opportunities for public consultation as the Plan develops.

The Leeds Local Plan

The Leeds Local Plan will set out the scale and type of sustainable development needed across the district, where it should be located, and the standards it should meet. It will guide how Leeds grows and changes, supporting decisions about new homes, jobs and infrastructure, while balancing development with social and environmental needs and protecting the character of places. The Plan also plays an important role in delivering the City Council’s ambitions for inclusive growth, improved health and wellbeing, and a transition to a zero-carbon future.

2. The consultation in numbers

The figures below show how many people took part and how the consultation was viewed and shared online.

How comments were made

Comments were made in the following ways:

• online, via the Commonplace consultation website
• email
• post

Most responses were submitted online through the Commonplace website, with additional responses received by email and by post.

Social media and website reach

These figures provide an indication of the online reach of the consultation, including how widely information was viewed on social media and how many visits the consultation webpages received.

How the consultation was promoted

The consultation was promoted using a wide range of methods to reach as many people as possible, including: 

• sending emails to thousands of residents and stakeholders, 
• working with partner organisations to share information, 
• using media such as press releases and radio, 
• there was also a strong online campaign with social media posts, digital adverts, and website promotion, 
• printed materials like posters and magazine adverts, and
• in-person outreach, including events and engagement with local councillors and community groups, helped raise awareness across the district.

3. Comments from across the Leeds district

Number of comments made by area

The map below shows where comments were made, using location information provided with responses (for example, a postcode area or an area selected on the consultation website). To protect privacy, locations are shown at area level rather than as individual addresses.

Engagement by area

For each local area, we show:

• the number of people who commented (unique participants linked to the area)
• the total number of comments received (all comments linked to the area)
• the nature of comments made: sites, policies, or other matters

The following charts show both how many people took part and total comments for each local area.

“People who commented” shows how many different people responded in each area. “Total comments” shows how many comments were submitted in total (so one person can leave more than one comment).

Comments by plan content

The Leeds Local Plan will be made up of policies (the planning rules for new development) and sites (where new development will take place). There are also several related supporting documents that sit alongside the Local Plan, including the Sustainability Appraisal and the Habitats Regulations Assessment.

4. Key themes raised in the consultation

What people said

Several themes emerged from the consultation, broadly relating to the following areas of interest and concern:

• Potential development sites: site location and scale, and how proposals relate to local character and settlement patterns
• Services and infrastructure: capacity of schools, health services, utilities, drainage and flood management, and what needs to be in place to support growth
• Transport and connectivity: traffic and congestion, public transport, parking, and safe routes for walking and cycling
• Green space and environment: protecting countryside and green corridors, biodiversity, trees and habitats, and access to parks and recreation
• Design, character and climate: building heights and density, impacts on heritage and townscape, and expectations for low carbon, well‑designed development

5. Local feedback: your area

This section summarises feedback from across the Leeds district. Please click on whichever area(s) you would like to view.

Please note: the consultation report will be published in winter 2026/27 and will include a summary of the comments made and how these helped inform the draft Leeds Local Plan.

6. Next steps and future consultation

The Council is grateful for the time and effort local people and a wide range of stakeholders made in providing comments. The large number of comments received will be used to help shape the emerging Leeds Local Plan “Plan Content & Evidence” consultation planned for winter 2026/27.

Dates and details of future consultation stages, including how to take part, will be published here: www.leeds.gov.uk/localplan

If you would like to be added to the Council’s database, to be notified of future local plan consultations please email us at localplan@leeds.gov.uk