Belle Isle, Leeds

Belle Isle
Belle Isle
	Belle Isle Road
	Belle Isle Belle Isle Location withinWest Yorkshire
OS grid reference	SE3129
Metropolitan borough	City of Leeds;
Metropolitan county	West Yorkshire;
Region	Yorkshire and the Humber;
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	LEEDS
Postcode district	LS10
Dialling code	0113
Police	West Yorkshire
Fire	West Yorkshire
Ambulance	Yorkshire
UK Parliament	Leeds South;
	List of places UK England Yorkshire 53°45′51″N1°31′40″W/ 53.7641°N 1.5278°W

Belle Isleis a large suburb 3 miles (5 km) south ofLeeds city centre,West Yorkshire,England.It is bounded to the north and east by theM621 motorway.

The district lies in the LS10Leeds postcode area.Belle Isle is part of theMiddleton Parkward ofLeeds City CouncilandLeeds Southparliamentary constituency.

Etymology

The name "Belle Isle" is first attested in theRothwellparish register for 1762 asNewbell-ile,and then in 1763 asBelle Isle,situated at Middleton Wood End. The name is borrowed from that of the French islandBelle Île,off the Breton coast, whose name isFrenchfor 'beautiful island'. The island was captured and held by British forces from 1761 to 1763 during theSeven Years' War,and this event inspired the naming of the Yorkshire settlement.^[1]There is also speculation that the name might be a pun on the place-nameBell Hill(which allegedly derives from the distinctive "bell" shaped early coal miningbell pitsof the hilly area).^{[citation needed]}

History

In the late eighteenth century, Belle Isle was just a small hamlet for workers at a colliery oppositeMiddleton Woods,near the current site ofMiddleton colliery railway.

Belle Isle now consists largely of housing estates built on farming land by the local authorityhousingdepartment during theclearance of slumdwellings and the expansion of Leeds in the early twentieth-century; some of these homes are now in private ownership.

The estate is divided north to south by Belle Isle Road with the wide expanse of Belle Isle Circus lying at the centre of the estate.

The majority of the homes in Belle Isle are red brick semi-detached houses although this stock has been added to over the years. The majority still belong to Leeds City Council and are managed locally by Belle Isle Tenant Management Organisation (TMO). BITMO is a not for profit housing company that is run by a tenant board.

Some of thecouncil estatesof Belle Isle are listed below:

Petersfield Avenue
Windmill Road
The Clearings
Manor Farms (often debated as to whether this lies in Middleton)
Newhall Road
The Brooms
The Aberfields
The Lanshaws
The Nesfields

Demography

Like the neighbouring communities of Beeston Hill, Holbeck and Middleton, Belle Isle is considered to be amongst the most deprived areas in the country.^[2]Examples of disadvantage found in the district include low educational attainment, low skill levels, and concerns about crime, anti-social behaviour and lack of facilities.

In 2010 theMiddleton Parkward which includes Belle Isle had 27487 inhabitants of which 52.2% were female and 47.8% male and 21.5% were aged 15 or under compared with an England average of 18.7%. Life Expectancy for males and females is more than three years less than the rest of Leeds. In 2001, most residents, 96.3%, identified as White British with 71.6% identifying as Christian and over 18% having no religion. Most houses are in the Council Tax Bands A and B. In April 2012, 1493 people were claiming Jobseekers allowance which at 8.3% was nearly double the Leeds' average. While all recorded crime was below the Leeds' average, criminal damage was substantially higher and nearly twice the England average.^[3]

In the Middleton Park ward in 2001, there were 10,649 households of which 1,201 households with dependent children had and no adult in employment.^[4]Of the 1,410 of lone parent households with dependent children, most, 1,307 were women and most had no job. Male lone parents numbered 95 of which 39 were in full-time employment.^[5]Nearly half the households, 5,170 had no car or van.^[6]

Education

Belle Isle has a number of schools. Merlyn Rees Community High School, situated at the heart of Belle Isle, provided educational facilities for over 20 years (previously known as Belle Isle Middle School), but, in late 2006, the school closed down. Merlyn Rees then changed its name to South Leeds High School. It was then demolished and is now situated near South Leeds Sports centre. In 2009 the school was renamedSouth Leeds Academy.

Other schools in the area are Windmill Primary School (previously known as Belle Isle Primary School) opposite Merlyn Rees School, and Clapgate Primary School on Cranmore Drive. Also, Sharp Lane Primary School is located near the Omnibus Pub. Broomfield SILC - Specialist Inclusive Learning Centre, an all-age generic special school is on the Broom estate.

Religion

The churches of St John and St Barnabas (Anglican), West Grange (Evangelical) and St Peter (Roman Catholic) serve the area. The United Reformed Church in South Leeds was built in 2011 on the site of a Congregational Church opened in 1952 on Nesfield Road.

Entertainment

It is the site of the popular Belle IsleWorking Men's Club,which hosted many regional and national stars during the 1970s club boom. The club burnt to the ground in 2000 but was subsequently rebuilt.

Notable people

The television presenter and model,Nell McAndrew,is from Belle Isle. The England international rugby league playersGarry Schofield,Jason RobinsonandSonny Nickle,Snatch singerDarren Brittonand the philosopherPaul Crowtheralso grew up there and were pupils at Belle Isle Primary School. DJ and rapperTom Zanettiwas born and raised in the area.

Amenities

At the heart of the area is a large area of public open land, in the centre of a trafficroundabout,calledBelle Isle Circus;this was originally the site of a terminus for trams.

Thespoil tipssurrounding the former colliery are now being converted into woodland, adjacent to the ancient semi-natural woodlands of Middleton Wood.^[7]

Location grid

References

^Harry Parkin,Your City's Place-Names: Leeds,English Place-Name Society City-Names Series, 3 (Nottingham: English Place-Names Society, 2017), p. 25.
^"Intensive Neighbourhood Management Programme Neighbourhood Improvement Plan 2007–08"(PDF).South Leeds District Partnership. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 10 June 2011.Retrieved9 January2009.
^"Leeds Profile (Wards & Administrative Areas) Selection: Middleton Park Ward Geo-type: 2004 Wards".West Yorkshire Observatory. Archived fromthe originalon 8 January 2016.Retrieved17 June2012.
^"Households with Limiting Long-term Illness and Dependent Children".Office for National Statistics.Retrieved20 June2012.
^"Lone Parent Households with Dependent Children (KS22)".Office for National Statistics.Retrieved20 June2012.
^"Cars or Vans (KS17)".Office for National Statistics.Retrieved20 June2012.
^"Forest of Leeds - Belle Isle".Archived fromthe originalon 1 December 2008.Retrieved9 January2009.

External links

[1] Harry Parkin,Your City's Place-Names: Leeds,English Place-Name Society City-Names Series, 3 (Nottingham: English Place-Names Society, 2017), p. 25.

[2] "Intensive Neighbourhood Management Programme Neighbourhood Improvement Plan 2007–08"(PDF).South Leeds District Partnership. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 10 June 2011.Retrieved9 January2009.

[3] "Leeds Profile (Wards & Administrative Areas) Selection: Middleton Park Ward Geo-type: 2004 Wards".West Yorkshire Observatory. Archived fromthe originalon 8 January 2016.Retrieved17 June2012.

[4] "Households with Limiting Long-term Illness and Dependent Children".Office for National Statistics.Retrieved20 June2012.

[5] "Lone Parent Households with Dependent Children (KS22)".Office for National Statistics.Retrieved20 June2012.

[6] "Cars or Vans (KS17)".Office for National Statistics.Retrieved20 June2012.

[7] "Forest of Leeds - Belle Isle".Archived fromthe originalon 1 December 2008.Retrieved9 January2009.

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