East Leeds, how bad is it really?

[arghhhmiddleage]

I'm thinking specifically of the York Dale development in Killingbeck. It ticks lots of boxes, but the crime stats and general reputation of that area don't look too good. I don't want to live in a middle class enclave, but I want to be able to walk around without getting mugged and wake up in the morning still in possession of the car.

Can anyone who knows Leeds better than I do come and talk to me about it?

I've lived and worked all over LS14, LS8 and LS15 nearly all my life. I've moved to LS20 for a quiet life. I found those areas became less desirable because the Council, Police and other agencies who should have dealt with ASB and crime,- didn't.. It got worse. The Police treat ASB as a Log-number exercise for the victims and the Council do nothing. ASB is a Civil Matter but retaliation for being the victim of ASB is a criminal matter. So Local Authorities can sit on their hands until the Police need to get seriously involved. It costs a lot of money to convince a judge to evict the perpetrators of ASB. It's often easier to move the victim or drag out a case until the victim realises it's a waste of time (as I did)... Unfortunately parts of these areas have become hard to let areas and those areas spill crime and ASB into nearby estates and retail zones. Obviously if you grow up believing anything goes and nobody will stop you, things can only get worse. It only takes one or two families to bring down an entire area.. I'm sure it's the same all over the country.

You'd prob be safe on that devt but it's not.. amazing.

Bits of Oakwood might work (be aware that estate agents label surrounding areas as Oakwood when they're patently not. I grew up near potternewton park, and had to lol when I saw the area described as 'oakwood' and also 'lower chapel allerton'.

I had the same situation as another poster in that we couldn't afford to buy where I grew up. We bought in ahem 'lower bramley' ;) or 'upper kirkstall' . If you're in somewhere like burley it's a 15 min frequent bus into town, and only an extra 10 mins on to your trips out on the motorway.

If you're renting, what about living in town? It's not all mad prices and you'd save on the commute. There's some places on the way out past the armouries I'm a bit taken with, although you are a bit out in weird semi industrial land as you go further east.