Farmland and paddocks wanted in Derbyshire

Is your land in Derbyshire the kind we want?

Derbyshire stretches from the city of Derby and towns such as Ilkeston, Long Eaton, Belper and Ripley in the south and east to the Peak District uplands in the north-west. Green Belt covers land between Derby and Nottingham, near Swadlincote and on the edges of Sheffield and Greater Manchester, while the Peak District National Park covers much of the north. Former colliery and industrial land, edge-of-town fields and village infill are the usual sources of housing sites.

• Land with road frontage or a farm track to a road
• Parcels from a few acres to whole holdings
• Land put forward to a local plan or call for sites
• Farmland where the owner wants to keep farming meanwhile

Much of eastern Derbyshire lies on the former coalfield, where a coal mining risk assessment is often needed before building. The M1 corridor towns such as Chesterfield, Alfreton and Ilkeston, and the Swadlincote area near Burton upon Trent, see steady demand for small and medium housing sites.

What usually makes or breaks it

In England, the revised National Planning Policy Framework published on 17 August 2026 replaced the old "tilted balance" with new settlement policies: development within a settlement should normally be approved unless the harm substantially outweighs the benefits, while land outside a settlement can gain support in defined circumstances.

The August 2026 NPPF supports homes within reasonable walking distance (around 800 metres) of well-connected railway stations, with minimum densities of 35 homes per hectare, or 45 near higher-frequency stations.

Parts of Derbyshire are Green Belt, though not every town has any nearby. We check early whether a site is inside it and, if so, whether a grey belt or previously developed land case could apply.

Parts of Derbyshire fall within Peak District National Park. Protected landscapes carry strong policy protection, so land in or next to them needs particularly careful assessment.