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City of Leeds

This article discusses the metropolitan district of the City of Leeds. (For information on the city itself, see Leeds).

The City of Leeds is a metropolitan borough with city status within the metropolitan county of West Yorkshire, England, with a population of and is a member of the English Core Cities Group. It stretches from Otley and Wetherby in the north, on the border with North Yorkshire, to the border with the district of the City of Wakefield in the south, and from Pudsey on the border with the district of the City of Bradford in the west, to Garforth and Micklefield in the east. It is named after its major settlement, Leeds, which is also the administrative seat. To the south and west, the metropolitan district covers mostly urban and suburban areas, with some woodland. To the east and north, the district includes urban and suburban areas. There are ten towns and many villages (Leeds environs) within the metropolitan district, in addition to the Leeds urban area (Areas of Leeds).

Leeds City 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. 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 until 1976, when the Conservatives took control until 1979, when it returned to NOC. From 1980 to 2004 it was under Labour control. Elections are usually by thirds: 2004 saw all seats up for election due to boundary changes.

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

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.

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.

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.

Leeds (former county borough)

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, Pendas Fields and Austhorpe.

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.

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.

Morley (former municipal borough)

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.

Pudsey (former municipal borough)

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.

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 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. 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.

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 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.

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.

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 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

includes hunting and forestry includes energy and construction includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured Components may not sum to totals due to rounding

Demography

Like many other English major cities, the crime rate in Leeds is well above the national average. 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).

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").

Parliamentary constituencies

The eight parliamentary constituencies which represent Leeds as of 2007, and their MPs, are listed in the "Infobox" above.

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