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Coordinates: 53°49′20″N 1°27′36″W / 53.8222, -1.4599

Seacroft
View from Seacroft Village Green of the Cricketers Arms and the Queensview Flats with the shopping centre to the right.
Seacroft shown within West Yorkshire
Population	18, 000
OS grid reference	SE362365
Metropolitan borough	City of Leeds
Metropolitan county	West Yorkshire
Region	Yorkshire and the Humber
Constituent country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	LEEDS
Postcode district	LS14
Dialling code	0113
Police	West Yorkshire
Fire	West Yorkshire
Ambulance	Yorkshire
European Parliament	Yorkshire and the Humber
UK Parliament	Leeds East
List of places: UK • England • Yorkshire

Seacroft is an outer-city council estate covering an extensive area of east Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is 4 miles (6.4 km) east of Leeds City Centre and lies in the LS14 Leeds postcode area.

The area's population is 18,000 and it is one of the largest council estates in the country. The name is often used as a catch-all for Seacroft and the neighbouring areas of Whinmoor and Swarcliffe, other large east Leeds council estates which merge into each other.

Seacroft was at one time a small village between Leeds and York. The village green still exists, and is one of the oldest in the country with the stretch of land being mentioned in the Domesday Book. There is an old non-operating windmill, that pre-dates the estate, which has been incorporated into the Windmill Hotel (now known as the Ramada Leeds North). In 1934, Leeds City Council bought 1,000 acres (4.0 km²) for municipal housing and after World War II the majority of houses and blocks of flats were built. The council had planned for Seacroft to be a "satellite town within the city boundary"

Seacroft's Civic Centre was built in the early 1960s as a shopping centre serve the area. But by the late 1990s it had fallen into disrepair and was demolished. It has been replaced by the Seacroft Green Shopping Centre, a ten-store 97,000 square foot superstore complex with Tesco – the supermarket chain as the main retailer there. There is also a Ladbrokes, a Subway (restaurant), a Post Office and a superdrug.

In 2006, one of the new English education Academies opened in Seacroft named David Young Community Academy (DYCA), after a former bishop of Ripon, David Young.

Seacroft is Yorkshire's second largest council estate, after Bransholme in Kingston upon Hull. Being so large it has often been refered to as a town. The original vision, envisaged by the council was that it would be a 'Town within the City Limits', and the Seacroft Civic Centre, was often referred to as the 'Seacroft Town Centre'.

Tescos at The Seacroft Green Shopping Centre

History

Seacroft has a history dating back beyond the publication of the Domesday Book (1086). However there is evidence of inhabitation prior to that, during construction of the estate in the 1950s, a stone axe dating from the Neolithic age (3500)-(2100)(BC) was found on Kentmere Avenue, while two silver roman coins were found on Seacroft Green in the 1850s.¹ The Village developed slowly over the centuries, and saw very little change until the post war years. Work on the estate began in the 1950s. Many of the older houses on the estate are more traditional red-brick semis built around the Beechwood area, to the North of the estate. In the 1960s many prefabricated housing and high rise flats were constructed on the estate.

The 1960s also saw the construction of the Seacroft Civic Centre, which was at the time a novel way of building an outdoor purpose built twon centre. The Civic Centre had a Grandways supermarket and a Woolworths as well as many other smaller shops, banks, pubs and a library. In the 1990s it had become apparant that the condition of the Civic Centre had deteriorated significantly in the 30 years since its construction. Talks were held with Leeds City Council, and Tesco were found as the prefered bidder to rebuild the Seacroft Civic Centre. In 1999, work began clearing the site and in the 2000s the new 'Seacroft Green Shopping Centre' opened. The Tesco was cited at the time to be the largest supermarket in Europe, a claim which may not have been true. It was however still an enormous supermarket spread over two levels (the second being a large mezanine level). The car park was also enlarged and other shop units were built along the side of the supermarket, making the centre a crescent shape. The centre was not entirely popular with the local residents with many saying they had lost their town centre to a Tesco supermarket. To an extent this is true, although there are shops besides Tescos, they are far fewer then there was, the precinct area has been lost, the pubs in the centre have been lost and there are no offices. Until the building of the new centre, and since the closure of Grandways, it was said that fresh produce could not be bought on the estate. This was probably not true as there was still a Co-op on South Parkway.

The rebuilding of the Civic Centre did not however alter the deprivation on the estate. Throughout the 2000s the condition of many of the houses on the estate deteriorated, particularly amoungst the prefabricated housing to the South West of the estate. Many houses were vacated and either condition or lack of demand dictated that the council boarded them up. The estate's high rise flats are seen as a refuge as they are harder to break into and in better condition then the houses, as such they have largely been allocated to older residents. Some (including Queensview) have become sheltered housing.

Reputation

Boarded Housing in Seacroft

Seacroft has a fairly poor reputation across Leeds, a large section of housing is council owned and jobs tend to be low paid casual or manual work. Crime and drug use, along with teen pregnancy is high, many of the houses, particularly prefabricated housing around South Parkway have boarded up and beyond any future habitation - this is due to a multi million pound city re-development scheme whose earlier progress can be seen in the similar estates around the coal road area. The areas poor reputation has been focused on by journalist Donal MacIntyre. Neighbouring Gipton also shares this poor reputation. Because of its size Seacroft is often referred to in Leeds as an example of underclass culture and high crime. The local media, particularly the Yorkshire Evening Post regularly report on Seacroft in this manner.² In 2007 there was a minor riot in the Hawkshead area of Seacroft. Racial Motives were cited.³ Police Officers have in the past been seriously assaulted for entering the area.⁴ Seacroft has problems with arson particularly on motor vehicles. At 12:30am on the 11th October 2008, two vans were set on fire on Boggart Hill Drive, one containing numerous propane canisters.⁵

Run down Seacroft streets

The Negative Image of Seacroft is currently being challenged by an ongoing BBC article called 'The Estate' depicting life on the estate.⁶⁷

Seacroft Hospital

Main article: Seacroft Hospital

Seacroft Hospital is Leeds' third largest hospital. Situated in between Seacroft and Killingbeck, opposite the former Killingbeck Isolation Hospital, the hospital is accessible by all bus routes using the A64 York Road guided bus lanes. The hospital is significantly smaller then the Leeds General Infirmary and St James' University Hospital, however are much larger and services from Seacroft Hospital have been moved elsewhere in the past. Many of the buildings are in a poor state of repair and the health authority are considering selling off the older parts of the hospital for redevelopment.⁸

Foxwood School/East Leeds High School/East Leeds Family Learning Centre

East Leeds Family Learning Centre (former Foxwood School).

The main secondary school in Seacroft has had the three names mentioned above and is now closed awaiting demolition. The school was used as 'San Quentin High' in The Beiderbecke Affair. The buildings were completed in 1962 and are a complex of buildings set in a square with a central court yard. The main building was a six storey tower block. The buildings closed as a school in the early 21st century but has since been used as an adult education centre. Notable former pupils include Andrew Edge (musician) and the Right Honourable Colin Burgon (Labour Party MP for Elmet which includes Wetherby, Garforth, Cross Gates and Swarcliffe). Burgon himself is however from Gipton.

The building is now an adult education centre, East Leeds Family Learning Centre.

see Leodis Photograph [1]

Seacroft Village

Seacroft Village is the original part of Seacroft, around the Green and Cricketers Arms (pictured top), it is often still talked about today. Seacroft Village is mentioned in the Domesday Book. Seacroft Hall was built in the seventeenth century by the Shiletto family incorporating extensive landscaping and parkland. Despite being a listed building the hall was demolished in the 1950s, the original entrance lodge still stands on York road with Parklands School on south parkway now occupying the location of the hall.⁹

See also The Seacroft Village Preservation Society[2]

Industry

There is a small industrial estate in Seacroft on Limewood Approach. On this Cable and Wireless had a depot there for many years, however it has recently closed. Seacroft Waste Sorting Facility is based there, Leeds City Council have a major depot there and until recently Transco operated a small facility on the estate. There are large factories in nearby Whinmoor where Agfa and Unilever are based.

Proposed Seacroft bypass

A64 looking West towards the centre of Seacroft.

Brancroft Flats off A58 Wetherby Road in the Boggart Hill area of Seacroft.

It has long been noted since the 1960s that the Ring Road creates a social barrier between Seacroft and Swarcliffe.¹⁰ A proposed bypass to be built from Slaid Hill, past the A58, Barwick Road, the A64 and the A63 has been proposed. This would be built to dual carriageway standards. However no official approval has yet been given to this scheme.

The David Young Community Academy

David Young Community Academy opened in September 2006 in new premises providing for 11 to 18 year-old students. It is located in the Seacroft district of east Leeds, an area of substantial social and economic deprivation. The academy operates a ‘fair banding’ admissions process which ensures there is a comprehensive intake of students across a full range of abilities. It has an ethos based on Christian values: its sponsor is the Church of England. The academy’s subject specialism is Design and the Built Environment.

Location grid

Distances to nearby places of significance

• Cross Gates- 1.3 miles
• Whinmoor- 1.8 miles
• Scholes- 2.4 miles
• Garforth-4.6 miles
• Wetherby- 8.4 miles
• Castleford- 10.2 miles
• Leeds Bradford International Airport- 12.1 miles
• Wakefield- 14.2 mils
• Bradford- 15.4 miles
• Harrogate- 15.4 miles
• York- 21.1 miles

See also

• Large Council Estates in the UK

References

External links

• Seacroft Village West Yorkshire website
• BBC News website "The Estate" article about Seacroft
• "Planting the food desert" — Higher Education and Research Opportunities in the U.K.
• Queenswiew Flats In Seacroft — Website Dedicated to Queensview & Seacroft.
• "The Ancient Parish of Whitkirk". GENUKI. Retrieved on 2007-10-29. - Seacroft was in this parish
• Pictures of Queensview and Seacroft
• Yorkshire Evening Post, History of Seacroft

Wikipedia content modification information:

• This page was last modified on 26 November 2008, at 19:21.

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