SecretLeeds - History, culture and architecture in Leeds

Walking around the Wyke beck and beyond recently I took a tour around Seacroft and the streets I used to live in.

A large number of the houses have been demolished and the land just grassed over.

I know "pre-fabs" aren't the best, but why knock some down and not others?

The classic Leeds "Maiasonettes" have gone too but in other parts if the city that are still there kept in good repair.

Occasionally its one pair of semis gone, then again it can be a whole side street like the Askets or the whole one side of a street like Kentmere approach bottom end east side?

Why do they try to build private houses on bogs like Cookridges soggy bottom, but fail to build social housing where it's stood before?

On one street the only house left standing is the one that I used to live in.

the demolision began a good few years ago now...i wonder what plans leeds city council have for it!

Hi all have you seen this http://player.bfi.org.uk/film/watch-flo ... eeds-1952/ its well worth a look,especially from about 6.25 in

The EASEL (East and South East Leeds) project was a plan to regenerate housing by selling large areas of council-owned land to a private developer and using the money to refurbish or replace social housing. Official documents at http://www.leeds.gov.uk/council/Pages/E ... -Plan.aspx. It was badly affected by the Credit Crunch and was withdrawn in 2010. It was also extremely unpopular, as shown in blogs like http://handsoffourhomes.blogspot.co.uk/. There was a similar project covering Holbeck. Turfing people out of rented housing was relatively straightforward but where people had bought council houses it meant Leeds council had to get compulsory purchase orders, for example: https://streetfightersproject.files.wor ... onnews.pdf. I think this is part of the reason why some streets just have one house left standing.

Leeds council and its predecessors has always had a "knock it down first and ask questions later" approach to social housing. To be fair some of it did require replacement but I think if they'd made more effort to keep communities together there would be fewer pockets of deprivation right next to more affluent areas.