City of Leeds

Leeds
City and metropolitan borough
From left to right Top: Harewood House in Harewood Upper: Wetherby Town Hall and Otley Market Place Lower: Morley Town Hall and Rothwell old town hall Bottom: Pudsey parish church and Leeds Civic Hall
Coat of arms
Motto(s):  Latin: Pro Rege et Lege, lit. 'For King and the Law'
Leeds shown within West Yorkshire
Leeds Location within England Show map of England Leeds Location within the United Kingdom Show map of the United Kingdom Leeds Location in Europe Show map of Europe
Coordinates: 53°48′03″N 1°33′01″W / 53.8007°N 1.5502°W / 53.8007; -1.5502[1]
OS grid reference	SE 2971 3391[1]
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Country	England
Region	Yorkshire and the Humber
City region and ceremonial county	West Yorkshire
Historic county	West Riding of Yorkshire
Borough Charter	1207
Town charter	1626
City status	1893
Metropolitan borough	1974
Named for	Leeds
Administrative HQ	Leeds Civic Hall
Government [2]
• Type	Metropolitan borough with leader and cabinet
• Body	Leeds City Council
• Control	Labour
• Leader	James Lewis (L)
• Lord Mayor	Abigail Marshall Katung
• Chief Executive (Interim)	Mariana Pexton
• House of Commons	10 MPs Hilary Benn (L) Richard Burgon (L) Fabian Hamilton (L) Simon Lightwood (L) Keir Mather (L) Rachel Reeves (L) Mark Sewards (L) Alec Shelbrooke (C) Alex Sobel (L) Katie White (L)
Area [3]
• Total	213 sq mi (552 km2)
• Rank	71st
Population  (2022)[4]
• Total	822,483
• Rank	2nd
• Density	3,860/sq mi (1,491/km2)
Ethnicity (2021) [5]
• Ethnic groups	List 79.0% White 9.7% Asian 5.6% Black 3.4% Mixed 2.3% other
Religion (2021) [5]
• Religion	List 42.3% Christianity 40.2% no religion 7.8% Islam 1.2% Sikhism 1.1% Hinduism 0.8% Judaism 0.4% Buddhism 0.4% other 5.8% not stated
Time zone	UTC+0 (GMT)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+1 (BST)
Postcode areas	BD LS WF
Dialling codes	0113 01924 01937 01943 01977
ISO 3166 code	GB-LDS
GSS code	E08000035
ITL code	TLE42
GVA	2021 estimate[6]
• Total	£27.9 billion
• Per capita	£34,487
GDP (nominal)	2021 estimate[6]
• Total	£30.6 billion
• Per capita	£37,764
Website	leeds.gov.uk

Leeds,^[7] also known as the City of Leeds, is a metropolitan borough with city status in West Yorkshire, England. The metropolitan borough includes the administrative centre of Leeds and the towns of Farsley, Garforth, Guiseley, Horsforth, Morley, Otley, Pudsey, Rothwell, Wetherby and Yeadon.^[8] It has a population of 822,483 (2022), making it technically the second largest city in England by population behind Birmingham, since London is not a single local government entity. Local governance sits with Leeds City Council and the city's 32 Parish Councils.

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 West Yorkshire County Council. Since the Local Government Act 1985 Leeds City Council has effectively been a unitary authority, serving as the sole (aside from the 32 Parish Councils) 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.

Although the city's area includes 32 civil parishes, most of Leeds' population currently live in unparished areas. In these areas the Localism Act 2011 makes provision for groups of people from the community, called neighbourhood forums, to formulate Neighbourhood Development Plans and Orders intended to guide and shape development in their own locality.^[9]