The Sheffield Metropolitan district is unusual for the quantity of greenspace within its boundaries - over a third of the MDC lies within the Peak district National Park. Within the National Park the Peak District Board controls the land-use and land-management. Sheffield City is represented on the Board.

There is a very strong presumption against development within the part of Sheffield lying in the Peak Park. The land is mainly moorland used for very low intensity farming (very marginal economically in the present circumstance) and for recreation (hill walking, climbing, hang-gliding, riding, camping)

See figures for Sheffield City

Sheffield City is defined here as that area of the land within the administrative district which is outside the Peak District National Park.

Here too there is a high proportion of undevelopable land where farmland and moorland of very high landscape and recreational value has been designated as Greenbelt. To protect it from development for the benefit of local people much of this land was bought by the city of Sheffield over the last sixty years and is leased for various land uses.

As a result of its topography, which strongly controlled the pattern of development (in this century as well as the past), Sheffield has an exceptionally large area of Greenspace (some of which is officially designated as Parks and other public open space but the majority of which is farmland).

There are variations across the city in the area of domestic garden, depending in the main on the density of the original development . Using Stocksbridge District as an case study for medium density housing, detailed calculations are presently being made of the area of garden for different densities and types and age of housing. These data will be published here when available, as will data on higher and lower densities.