City of Leeds

Not to be confused with Leeds or Leeds City Region.

For other uses, see Leeds (disambiguation).

City of Leeds
City & Metropolitan borough
Official logo of City of Leeds Coat of arms
Motto: "Pro Rege et Lege" "For King and the law"
Leeds shown within West Yorkshire and England
Coordinates:
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Constituent country	England
Region	Yorkshire and the Humber
Ceremonial county	West Yorkshire
Admin HQ	Leeds
Borough Charter	1207
Town Charter	1626
City status	1893
City of Leeds Met. District created	1974
Government
• Type	Metropolitan borough, City
• Governing body	Leeds City Council
• Lord Mayor	Cllr Rev'd Alan Taylor
• Leader of the Council	Cllr Keith Wakefield (Labour)
• Chief Executive	Tom Riordan
• MPs:	Stuart Andrew (C) Hilary Benn (L) Richard Burgon (L) Fabian Hamilton (L) Andrea Jenkyns (C) Greg Mulholland (LD) Rachel Reeves (L) Alec Shelbrooke (C)
Area
• Total	213 sq mi (551.72 km2)
Highest elevation	1,120 ft (340 m)
Lowest elevation	30 ft (10 m)
Population (mid-2014 est.)
• Total	766,399 (Ranked 2nd)
• Density	3,574/sq mi (1,380/km2)
• Ethnicity (2011 census)	85% White 5.7% Asian or Asian British 3.5% Black or Black British 2.7% Mixed Race 3.1% Other
Time zone	Greenwich Mean Time (UTC+0)
• Summer (DST)	British Summer Time (UTC+1)
Postcode areas	LS, WF
Area code(s)	0113, 01924, 01937, 01943, 01977
ISO 3166-2	GB-LDS
ONS code	00DA (ONS) E08000035 (GSS)
NUTS 3	UKE42
OS grid reference	SE296338
Euro. Parlt. Const.	Yorkshire & the Humber
Website	www.leeds.gov.uk

The City of Leeds (/liːdz/) is a local government district of West Yorkshire, England, governed by Leeds City Council, with the status of a city and metropolitan borough. The metropolitan district includes the administrative centre Leeds and the ten towns of Farsley, Garforth, Guiseley, Horsforth, Morley, Otley, Pudsey, Rothwell, Wetherby and Yeadon. It has a population of 766,399 (mid-2014 est.), making it the second largest local government district in England by population behind Birmingham; it is also the second largest metropolitan district by area behind Doncaster.

The current city boundaries were set on 1 April 1974 by the provisions of the Local Government Act 1972, as part a reform of local government in England. The city is a merger of eleven former local government districts; the unitary City and County Borough of Leeds combined with the municipal boroughs of Morley and Pudsey, the urban districts of Aireborough, Garforth, Horsforth, Otley and Rothwell, and parts of the rural districts of Tadcaster, Wharfedale and Wetherby from the West Riding of Yorkshire.

For its first 12 years the city had a two-tier system of local government; Leeds City Council shared power with the West Yorkshire County Council. Since the Local Government Act 1985 Leeds City Council has effectively been a unitary authority, serving as the sole executive, deliberative and legislative body responsible for local policy, setting council tax, and allocating budget in the city, and is a member of the Leeds City Region Partnership. Thc City of Leeds is divided into 31 civil parishes and a single unparished area.

History

Main articles: History of Leeds and County Borough of Leeds

Background

The Borough of Leeds was created in 1207, when Maurice Paynel, lord of the manor, granted a charter covering a small area adjacent to a crossing of the River Aire, between the old settlement centred on Leeds Parish Church to the east and the manor house and mills to the west. In 1626 a charter was granted by Charles I, incorporating the entire parish as the Borough of Leeds; it was reformed by the Municipal Corporations Act 1835. The parish and borough included the chapelries of Chapel Allerton, Armley, Beeston, Bramley, Farnley, Headingley cum Burley, Holbeck, Hunslet, Leeds, Potternewton and Wortley. The borough was located in the West Riding of Yorkshire and gained city status in 1893. When a county council was formed for the riding in 1889, Leeds was excluded from its area of responsibility and formed a county borough. The borough made a significant number of territorial expansions, expanding from 21,593 acres (87.38 km²) in 1911 to 40,612 acres (164.35 km²) in 1961; adding in stages the former area of the Roundhay, Seacroft, Shadwell and Middleton parishes and gaining other parts of adjacent districts.

Formation

A review of local government arrangements completed in 1969 proposed the creation of a new large district centred on Leeds, occupying 317,000 acres (1,280 km²) and including 840,000 people. The proposed area was significantly reduced in a 1971 white paper; and within a year every local authority to be incorporated into it protested or demonstrated. The final proposal reduced the area further and following the enactment of the Local Government Act 1972, the county borough was abolished on 1 April 1974 and its former area was combined with that of the municipal boroughs of Morley and Pudsey; the urban districts of Aireborough, Horsforth, Otley, Garforth and Rothwell; and parts of the rural districts of Tadcaster, Wetherby and Wharfedale. The new district gained both borough and city status, as had been held by the county borough; and forms part of the county of West Yorkshire.

Formation of the metropolitan district in 1974
The former county borough is shaded in grey. Other areas: Municipal Borough of Morley Municipal Borough of Pudsey Aireborough Urban District Horsforth Urban District Otley Urban District Garforth Urban District Rothwell Urban District 8a. Tadcaster Rural District (part) Wetherby Rural District (part) Wharfedale Rural District (part)

Geography

The district and its settlements are situated in the eastern foothills of the Pennines astride the River Aire whose valley, the Aire Gap, provides a road and rail corridor that facilitates communications with cities to the west of the Pennines. The district extends 15 miles (24 km) from east to west and 13 miles (21 km) from north to south; with over 65% covered with green belt land. The highest point, at 1,115 feet (340 m), is at its north western extremity on the eastern slopes of Rombalds Moor, better known as Ilkley Moor, on the boundary with the City of Bradford. The lowest points are at around 33 feet (10 m), in the east: where River Wharfe crosses the boundary with North Yorkshire south of Thorp Arch Trading Estate and where the River Aire (at this point forming the City of Wakefield boundary) meets the North Yorkshire boundary near Fairburn Ings. To the north and east Leeds is bordered by North Yorkshire: Harrogate district to the north and Selby district to the east. The remaining borders are with other districts of West Yorkshire: Wakefield to the south, Kirklees to the south west, and Bradford to the west.

Governance

Main articles: Leeds City Council and History of local government in Yorkshire

Leeds City Council is the local authority of the 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 run by a Labour administration. Before the 2011 election, the council had been under no overall control since 2004. The Chief Executive of Leeds City Council is Tom Riordan while the Leader of the Council is Councillor Judith Blake of the Labour Party. West Yorkshire does not have a county council, so Leeds City Council is the primary provider of local government services. The district forms part of the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England.

Most of the district is an unparished area, comprising Leeds itself (the area of the former county borough), Pudsey, Garforth, Rothwell and the area of the former urban district of Aireborough. In the unparished area there is no lower tier of government. Outside the unparished area there are 31 civil parishes, represented by parish councils. These form the lowest tier of local government and absorb some limited functions from Leeds City Council in their areas. The councils of the civil parishes of Horsforth, Morley, Otley and Wetherby are town councils. The 27 other civil parishes are:

Aberford Allerton Bywater Alwoodley Arthington Bardsey cum Rigton Barwick in Elmet and Scholes Boston Spa

Bramham cum Oglethorpe Bramhope and Carlton Clifford Collingham with Linton Drighlington East Keswick Gildersome

Great and Little Preston Harewood Kippax Ledsham Ledston Micklefield Pool in Wharfedale

Scarcroft Shadwell Swillington Thorner Thorp Arch Walton

The district is represented by eight MPs (one jointly with Wakefield), for the constituencies of Elmet and Rothwell (Alec Shelbrooke, Conservative); Leeds Central (Hilary Benn, Labour); Leeds East (Richard Burgon, Labour); Leeds North East (Fabian Hamilton, Labour); Leeds North West (Greg Mulholland, Lib Dem); Leeds West (Rachel Reeves, Labour); Pudsey (Stuart Andrew, Conservative); and Morley and Outwood (Andrea Jenkyns, Conservative; three wards of this constituency are in Leeds and two in Wakefield). Leeds is within the Yorkshire and the Humber European constituency, which is represented by two Labour, two UKIP and two Conservative (one elected as UKIP) MEPs.

Demography

Main article: Demography of Leeds

Leeds compared
2001 UK Census	City of Leeds metropolitan district	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%

At the 2001 UK census, the district had a total population of 715,402. Of the 301,614 households in 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. The population density was 1,967/km² (5,090/sq mi) and for every 100 females, there were 93.5 males. Of those aged 16–74, 30.9% had no academic qualifications, higher than the 28.9% in all of England. Of the residents, 6.6% were born outside the United Kingdom, lower than the England average of 9.2%.

The majority of people in Leeds identify themselves as Christian. The proportion of Muslims is average for the country. Leeds has the third-largest Jewish community in the United Kingdom, after those of London and Manchester. The areas of Alwoodley and Moortown contain sizeable Jewish populations. 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").

The crime rate in Leeds is well above the national average, like many other English major cities. 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). The table below details the population of the current area of the district since 1801, including the percentage change since the last available census data.

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

Economy

Main article: Economy of Leeds

Leeds has a diverse economy with the service sector now dominating over the traditional manufacturing industries. It is the location of one of the largest financial centres in England outside London. New tertiary industries such as retail, call centres, offices and media have contributed to a high rate of economic growth. This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Leeds at current basic prices with figures in millions of British pounds sterling.

Year	Regional Gross Value Added	Agriculture	Industry	Services
1995	8,713	43	2,652	6,018
2000	11,681	32	2,771	8,878
2003	13,637	36	3,018	10,583

Education

See also: List of schools in Leeds

Education Leeds, a non-profit company owned by Leeds City Council, provided educational services between 2001 and 2011. From April 2011 Leeds City Council has since disbanded Education Leeds and has consolidated educational services into a Children's Services Department of the council itself.

Transport

File:Leeds-bus.jpg

FTR bus service

Main article: Transport in Leeds

Leeds city centre is connected to the National Rail network at Leeds railway station. Public transport in West Yorkshire is coordinated by the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive, under the control of a joint-board of local authorities in the county and including Leeds City Council.

Twin cities

See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in the United Kingdom

The City has several twinning or partnership arrangements:

Brno, Czech Republic Colombo, Sri Lanka Dortmund, Germany Durban, South Africa Hangzhou, China

Lille, France Louisville, United States Siegen, Germany Ulan Bator, Mongolia

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

Braşov, Romania St Mary, Jamaica

Stockholm, Sweden

Notes and references

Notes

• ^1 includes hunting and forestry
• ^2 includes energy and construction
• ^3 includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured
• ^4 Components may not sum to totals due to rounding

References

Bibliography

External links

Media related to at Wikimedia Commons

• Leeds travel guide from Wikivoyage
• Leeds City Council Leeds City Council.
• 'Leeds Chamber of Commerce & Industry' Leeds Chamber of Commerce & Industry.
• 'Leeds Initiative' Leeds Initiative city partnership.
• Leodis Leeds Library & Information Service photograph archive.