City of Leeds

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City of Leeds
Coat of Arms of the City Council
Motto: "Pro Rege et Lege" "For King and the law"
Leeds shown within England
Coordinates: 53°47′59″N 1°32′57″W / 53.79972, -1.54917
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Constituent country	England
Region	Yorkshire and the Humber
Ceremonial county	West Yorkshire
Admin HQ	Leeds City Centre
City status (Leeds)	1893
Metropolitan borough status	1 April 1974
City status	1 April 1974
Government
- Type	Metropolitan borough, City
- Governing body	Leeds City Council
- Mayor	Cllr Frank Robinson
- MPs:	John Battle (L) Hilary Benn (L) Colin Burgon (L) Colin Challen (L) Fabian Hamilton (L) George Mudie (L) Greg Mulholland (LD) Paul Truswell (L)
Area
- Total	213 sq mi (551.72 km2)
Population (2007 est.)
- Total	761,100 (Ranked 2nd)
- Density	3,574.2/sq mi (1,380/km2)
- Ethnicity (2001 census)[1]	89.1% White 5.4% Asian or Asian British 2.0% Black or Black British 1.7% Mixed Race 1.8% Chinese and other
Time zone	Greenwich Mean Time (UTC+0)
Postcode	LS
Area code(s)	0113
Website: www.leeds.gov.uk

The City of Leeds is a local government district of West Yorkshire, England, with the status of a city and metropolitan borough. It is named after its largest settlement, Leeds, but covers a larger area which includes the towns of Horsforth, Morley, Otley and Pudsey, and several outlying villages and suburban areas. The district has a population of 761,100 (2007 est.) whilst the 2001 population of Leeds itself was 443,247^[2]. The district is a member of the English Core Cities Group.

The current city boundaries were set as part of the provisions of the Local Government Act 1972, and cover an amalgamation of ten former local government districts from the West Riding of Yorkshire and the former politically independant City and County Borough of Leeds, all abolished in 1974. The cities of Bradford and Wakefield lie to the west and south respectively. To the southwest is Dewsbury and the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees; to the north is the county of North Yorkshire.

Contents 1 History and geography 1.1 Leeds (former county borough) 1.1.1 Boundary changes 1.2 Morley (former municipal borough) 1.3 Pudsey (former municipal borough) 1.4 Horsforth, Aireborough and Otley (former urban districts) 1.5 Wharfedale, Wetherby and Tadcaster (former rural districts) 1.6 Garforth and Rothwell (former urban districts) 2 Governance 2.1 Council 3 Economy 4 Demography 4.1 Population change 5 Parliamentary constituencies 6 Education 7 Town twinning 8 References 9 External links

[edit] History and geography

Prior to 1974, the borough of Leeds was governed by Leeds Corporation or the Corporation of Leeds, established by the Municipal Corporations Act 1835. The municipal borough of Leeds became a county borough with the Local Government Act 1888.^[3]

Constituent areas of the City of Leeds 1974
The former County Borough of Leeds is shown shaded in grey. Other areas: 1.) Municipal Brough of Morley 2.) Municipal Borough of Pudsey 3.) Aireborough Urban District 4.) Horsforth Urban District 5.) Otley Urban District 6.) Garforth Urban District 7.) Rothwell Urban District 8.), 8a.) Tadcaster Rural District (part) 9.) Wetherby Rural District (part) 10.) Wharfedale Rural District (part)

The City of Leeds was formed in 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, from the areas of the former County Borough of Leeds and the ten surrounding boroughs and districts. The three rural districts of Wharfedale, Wetherby and Tadcaster in the north and east were split in the reform. The other former boroughs and districts that were merged into the City of Leeds were those of Garforth, Rothwell and Morley in the south, Pudsey in the west, and Horsforth, Aireborough and Otley in the north-west.^[4]

The area that now forms the metropolitan district was part of the historical West Riding of Yorkshire, although when the Local Government Act 1888 established the administrative counties, the County Borough of Leeds and other county boroughs were excluded.^[5]

[edit] Leeds (former county borough)

Main article: Leeds

Apart from Leeds City Centre and the adjacent Quarry Hill area, the areas in the section of the former County Borough of Leeds north of the River Aire include (working from west to east):

• Upstream in the Aire valley, between the river and (roughly) the railway line to Harrogate: Burley, Kirkstall and Hawksworth.
• Along the A660 road to Otley:
  • inside the ring road: Blenheim, Woodhouse (with the campus of Leeds University), Hyde Park, Headingley, Moor Grange, Beckett Park (with the campus of Leeds Metropolitan University), Far Headingley, Weetwood and West Park
  • outside the ring road: Ireland Wood, Lawnswood, Holt Park, Tinshill and Cookridge, all west of the A660.
• Between the A660 and the A61 road to Harrogate:
  • inside the ring road: Little London, Beck Hill, Miles Hill, Meanwood, and parts of Woodhouse, Headingley and Weetwood
  • outside the ring road towards Golden Acre Park and Eccup reservoir: Adel and Alwoodley
• Between the A61 and the A58 road to Wetherby:
  • inside the ring road: Potternewton, Scott Hall, Chapel Allerton, Chapeltown, Moor Allerton, Moortown, Gledhow, Oakwood and Roundhay with Roundhay Park
• outside the ring road: The eastern part of Alwoodley and Shadwell, a village near the A58.
• Between the A58 and the A64 road to York:
  • inside the ring road: Lovell Park, Burmantofts, Sheepscar, Harehills, Gipton, Killingbeck and Seacroft
  • outside the ring road: Whinmoor.
• South of the A64:
  • inside the ring road: Richmond Hill, East End Park, Wykebeck, Osmondthorpe, Halton Moor, Halton, Temple Newsam, Colton. Also Cross Gates (or Crossgates) and Whitkirk just inside the Ring Road.
  • outside the ring road: Swarcliffe, Manston and Pendas Fields.

The following areas on the southern side of the River Aire are also part of the former county borough:

• Rodley, Swinnow, Bramley, and Moorside between Pudsey and the river (or more exactly the Leeds and Liverpool Canal). Also Armley, Wortley, Farnley and New Farnley.
• Holbeck and Hunslet between the M621 motorway and the river, opposite the city centre. South of the city centre and outside the M621, Cross Flatts, Beeston, Cottingley, Belle Isle and Middleton.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Boundary changes

The county borough initially consisted of the civil parishes of Chapel Allerton, Armley, Beeston, Bramley, Farnley, Headingley cum Burley, Holbeck, Hunslet, Leeds, Osmanthorpe, Potter Newton and Wortley. The borough was extended to include the rural parishes of Roundhay, Seacroft and Shadwell in 1912, Middleton in 1920 and Adel cum Eccup, Alwoodley and Templenewsham (including Thorpe Stapleton) in 1928.^[5]

[edit] Morley (former municipal borough)

Main article: Morley, West Yorkshire

Apart from the town of Morley, the Municipal Borough of Morley included Churwell (a separate Local Government District until 1891), East Ardsley (or Ardsley East), West Ardsley, Drighlington and Gildersome (urban districts absorbed by the borough in 1937). Morley was incorporated as a borough in 1885.^[5]

[edit] Pudsey (former municipal borough)

Main article: Pudsey

The market town of Pudsey, which is situated approximately halfway between Leeds and Bradford, includes Stanningley and the Fulneck Moravian Settlement. The town's first local government was the local board formed in 1872. This became an urban district in 1894 and received a charter of incorporation to become a borough in 1900. In 1937 the urban districts of Calverley and Farsley were absorbed by the Municipal Borough of Pudsey.^[5]

[edit] Horsforth, Aireborough and Otley (former urban districts)

• The former Horsforth Urban District lies south-east of Yeadon. The town of Horsforth is now a north-western suburb, separated from the city by the railway line to Harrogate and Moseley Beck, a tributary of the River Aire.

• The area of the former Aireborough Urban District lies between Otley and Pudsey. It was formed by the merger of three urban districts in 1937: Rawdon, Yeadon and Guiseley.^[5] They are situated between Otley in the north and Pudsey in the south, on the north side of the River Aire. The three settlements lie on a straight line connecting Horsforth in a north-west direction with Menston and Burley in Wharfedale (in the City of Bradford metropolitan district, but close to the border with North Yorkshire). This line roughly coincides with the Leeds–Harrogate railway line. Leeds Bradford International Airport lies on the north-east side of that line and is part of Yeadon.

• Otley is a market town in the extreme north-west of the metropolitan district, north of the former Aireborough district. Until 1866 the ancient parish of Otley included many of the neighbouring villages.^[5]

[edit] Wharfedale, Wetherby and Tadcaster (former rural districts)

When the City of Leeds metropolitan district was formed in 1974, each of the three rural districts to the north and northeast of Leeds was split.

• Arthington, Bramhope and Pool passed from Wharfedale Rural District to the City of Leeds.

• The market town of Wetherby and a large portion of the former Wetherby Rural District became part of the City of Leeds. This includes Bardsey cum Rigton, Boston Spa, Bramham, Clifford, Collingham, East Keswick, Harewood, Linton, Scarcroft, Thorner, Thorp Arch, Walton, and Wothersome.

• Much of Tadcaster Rural District, including Aberford, Austhorpe, Barwick-in-Elmet, Great Preston, Little Preston, Ledsham, Ledston, Lotherton-cum-Aberford, Micklefield, Mickletown, Parlington, Scholes, Sturton Grange and Swillington, has been part of the metropolitan district since the 1974 reform, but not the market town of Tadcaster.

The remainder of the former districts passed to the borough of Harrogate (Wharfedale, Wetherby) or the district of Selby (Tadcaster), both in North Yorkshire.

[edit] Garforth and Rothwell (former urban districts)

The Garforth urban district stretched southward from the town of Garforth (east of Leeds) to the north bank of the River Aire. It included Kippax and Allerton Bywater.

The urban district of Rothwell also included an area much larger than the town of Rothwell itself. Rothwell lies to the south-east of Leeds and is separated from the city by the M1 motorway. A local board was formed for the township of Rothwell, and in 1892 this was extended to include Carlton, Lofthouse and Thorpe, becoming an urban district in 1894. In 1937 Methley Urban District and the civil parishes of Oulton and Woodlesford (formerly in Hunslet Rural District, which was abolished) were absorbed by Rothwell.^[5]

[edit] Governance

[edit] Council

Leeds City Council is the local government of the City of Leeds metropolitan district. The council is composed of 99 councillors, three for each of the city's wards. Elections are held three years out of four, on the first Thursday of May. One third of the councillors are elected, for a four year term, in each election. 2004 saw all seats up for election due to boundary changes.

It is currently under No Overall Control, and is run by a coalition of the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and Morley Borough Independents. The leaders of the Conservatives (Andrew Carter) and Liberal Democrats (Richard Brett) take turns to hold the office of Leader.

It was under No Overall Control (NOC) until 1976, when the Conservatives took control until 1979, when it returned to NOC. From 1980 to 2004 it was under Labour control.

Year	Labour	Liberal Democrats	Conservative	Others
2008	43	24	22	10
2007	43	24	22	10
2006	40	26	24	9
2004	40	26	24	9
2003	52	22	20	5
2002	57	20	18	4
2000	61	19	16	3
1999	71	14	12	2
1998	78?	8?	8?	2

[edit] Economy

This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Leeds at current basic prices published (pp.240-253) by Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.

Year	Regional Gross Value Added4	Agriculture1	Industry2	Services3
1995	8,713	43	2,652	6,018
2000	11,681	32	2,771	8,878
2003	13,637	36	3,018	10,583

Note 1: includes hunting and forestry

Note 2: includes energy and construction

Note 3: includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured

Note 4: Components may not sum to totals due to rounding

[edit] Demography

Leeds compared
2001 UK Census[6]	Leeds	Yorkshire and the Humber	England
Population	715,402	4,964,833	49,138,831
White	91.8%	93.5%	90.9%
Asian	4.5%	4.5%	4.6%
Black	1.4%	0.7%	2.3%

As of the 2001 UK census, the City of Leeds had a total population of 715,402.^[6] Of the 301,614 households in the City of Leeds, 33.3% were married couples living together, 31.6% were one-person households, 9.0% were co-habiting couples and 9.8% were lone parents, following a similar trend to the rest of England.^[7]

The population density was 1,967 inhabitants per square kilometre (5,094.5/sq mi)^[8] and for every 100 females, there were 93.5 males. Of those aged 16–74 in the City of Leeds, 30.9% had no academic qualifications, higher than the 28.9% in all of England.^[9] Of the City of Leed's residents, 6.6% were born outside the United Kingdom, lower than the England average of 9.2%.^[10]

Like many other English major cities, the crime rate in Leeds is well above the national average.^[11][12] In July 2006, the think tank Reform calculated rates of crime for different offences and has related this to populations of major urban areas (defined as towns over 100,000 population). Leeds was 11th in this rating (excluding London Boroughs, 23rd including London Boroughs).^[13]

16.8% of Leeds residents in the 2001 census declared themselves as having "no religion", which is broadly in line with the figure for the whole of the UK (also 8.1% "Religion not stated").

[edit] Population change

The table below details the population change since 1801, including the percentage change since the last available census data. Although the City of Leeds has existed as a metropolitan borough since 1974, figures have been generated by combining data from the towns, villages, and civil parishes that would later be constituent parts of the city.

Population growth in City of Leeds since 1801
Year	1801	1811	1821	1831	1841	1851	1861	1871	1881	1891	1901	1911	1921	1931	1941	1951	1961	1971	1981	1991	2001
Population	94,421	108,459	137,476	183,015	222,189	249,992	311,197	372,402	433,607	503,493	552,479	606,250	625,854	646,119	668,667	692,003	715,260	739,401	696,732	716,760	715,404
% change	–	+14.87	+26.75	+33.13	+21.40	+12.51	+24.48	+19.67	+16.44	+16.12	+9.73	+9.73	+3.23	+3.24	+3.49	+3.49	+3.36	+3.38	−5.77	+2.87	−0.19
Source: Vision of Britain[14]

[edit] Parliamentary constituencies

The eight parliamentary constituencies which represent Leeds as of the 2005 general election and their MPs are:

• Elmet: Colin Burgon (Labour)
• Leeds West John Battle (Labour)
• Leeds Central: Hilary Benn (Labour)
• Leeds East: George Mudie (Labour)
• Leeds North East: Fabian Hamilton (Labour)
• Leeds North West: Greg Mulholland (Liberal Democrat)
• Morley & Rothwell:Colin Challen (Labour)
• Pudsey: Paul Truswell (Labour)

After planned boundary changes, the City of Leeds will be represented by seven constituencies and three-fifths of one (which has 3 Leeds wards and 2 Wakefield wards):

• Elmet and Rothwell (new constituency)
• Leeds Central
• Leeds East
• Leeds North East
• Leeds North West
• Leeds West
• Morley and Outwood (new constituency: 3 Leeds wards and 2 Wakefield wards)
• Pudsey

The existing seats of Morley and Rothwell and Elmet will be abolished; the other six Leeds seats will all have changed boundaries.

[edit] Education

Education Leeds, a non-profit company owned by Leeds City Council, has provided educational services in the borough since 2001.^[15] In January 2009, it was announced that of the 38 secondary schools in the borough, 8 were to have a police officer stationed there full-time, and the remaining 30 schools were to have 16 officers between them. The initiative, which allows the officers to arrest and search pupils, was prompted by over 250 offences committed in schools in the borough in 2008. Police Constable Bob Bowman of West Yorkshire Police stated that "we don't have a particular problem in Leeds compared to other cities, but we're not resting on our laurels".^[16]

[edit] Town twinning

The City of Leeds' town twins, or "partner cities" are:

– Brno, Czech Republic[17] – Colombo, Sri Lanka[18] – Dortmund, Germany[19] – Durban, South Africa[20]

– Hangzhou, China[21] – Lille, France[22] – Louisville, Kentucky (United States)[23] – Siegen, Germany[18]

The city also has "strong contacts" with the following cities "for the purposes of ongoing projects":^[18]

– Braşov, Romania – St Mary, Jamaica

– Stockholm, Sweden

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Leeds City Council
• Leeds Initiative
• Leeds City Guide
• Leeds Labour website
• Leeds Liberal Democrats website

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Coordinates: 53°47′59″N 1°32′57″W / 53.79972, -1.54917