Leeds is an historic city. There are more listed buildings in Leeds than there are in York (List Entries: Leeds 2330, York 1571). The city centre is medieval in layout and there are surviving structures from still earlier times in other parts of the Leeds district.
The Leeds heritage of historic buildings and spaces helps give the city its unique character. Local distinctiveness is reinforced by keeping the best of the past and making sure that it has a secure future.
The Leeds district has a growing reputation for its rich and fascinating heritage of historic buildings and areas. The city centre is renowned for its Victorian monuments such as the Town Hall and the Corn Exchange but there are many examples of earlier periods too. Holbeck boasts the remains of the world's oldest surviving engineering works and Ledsham Church dates from Saxon times.
Most communities draw a distinctive character from the grain of historic street patterns and field boundaries, with the individual arrangements of buildings, walls and spaces. Local materials shaped the appearance of each settlement giving everywhere its unique identity. What survives from the depredations of less sensitive times, particularly the 1960s, is now valued as the essential ingredients of the 'sense of place'. Today, conservation is a central part of the planning and development of the city.
We give a high priority to encouraging the owners of historic buildings to retain, maintain and restore them, where necessary through reuse. Demolition is very rarely an acceptable option these days but in turn the Department needs to show flexibility and understanding of the needs of owners. Design compromise may be needed to produce a viable scheme for the long- term future of an historic building. Most cases are successfully resolved through negotiation with the increasing co-operation and enthusiasm of investors and developers. Historic areas need a similar understanding of their special character and how new development can be fitted in without compromising the old.
Public interest in the heritage is strong and continues to grow as more and more want a link to their roots and to live in places of distinctiveness. The Council has a wealth of information about buildings and areas in Leeds and is making more of its records accessible, principally through the internet, as resources allow. There is now easy access to most of the historic photographs kept in the Central Library by using the Leodis website. Other useful sources of information are the West Yorkshire Archives as Sheepscar and the West Yorkshire Archaeology Service. Links to all these are given in the Finding out more about conservation page.
Conservation of the heritage can be seen as part of the wider work of the making development sustainable. The driving force for this in the Council is the Sustainable Development Unit. Within this Unit, Conservation Team promotes understanding and wise management of the historic environment of Leeds. The Team delivers information, advice, monitoring and limited grant aid through the planning system to conserve the city's 3,300 listed Buildings, 64 Conservation Areas, 13 Registered Historic Parks & Gardens, 58 Scheduled Ancient Monuments and other recognised heritage features. More detail on each of these is available using the links on this page. We will add to the information on this site as resources allow but please let us know your views.
Our contact details are in the top right hand side of the page.
We cannot answer queries about planning or listed building consent applications or permissions. These should be addressed to Planning Services in the Development Department (address as above) or on 0113 247 8000 or by email to planning@leeds.gov.uk