A beautiful dream it is; being able to reach everything you need in your day-today-life in just a 20-minute round trip.
That's the concept of 20-minute neighbourhoods, where essential facilities are within your reach in your local area without having to drive or even use public transport. It's seen as a more sustainable way of using cities and towns, and the concept was picked up by Leeds City Council in its Local Plan.
The council hopes to incorporate the idea of 20-minute neighbourhoods in its future planning, so residents of areas around Leeds can access the facilities they need near them more easily. Work is in early stages, but the council has identified which areas are already rich in accessibility for their residents, and which need more work.
Read more: The 10 Leeds neighbourhoods with the worst crime rates
What should a 20-minute neighbourhood have?
Leeds City Council commissioned Mott McDonald to investigate accessibility in Leeds and map the access to facilities in each area. A good 20-minute neighbourhood ought to have things like primary schools, transit stops, a park, a playground, a convenience store, GP practice, post box and pharmacy within walking distance.
Also important are a dentist, café, restaurant, place of worship, post office, secondary school, supermarket library and a leisure centre. Other facilities also considered include a leisure centre, pub, recycling sites, bank, vet, allotments, emergency services, hospital, and museums and theatres/cinemas.
Where are Leeds's most accessible neighbourhoods?
Considering these factors, Mott McDonald analysed the neighbourhoods of Leeds and assigned them a score out of 18 based on their access to the facilities above in a 20-minute round trip walk. These were the top six local centres.
- Morley - 17.20
- Pudsey - 16.80
- Armley - 16.49
- Garforth - 16.36
- Horsforth - 16.00 (=)
- Bramley - 16.00 (=)
Leeds's least walkable neighbourhoods are Stourton, Kirkstall Forge, Whinmoor and Micklefield, all with a score under 10.
These scores are based on analysis available nearby, so I headed out to some of the top scorers to see what residents thought. I went to Morley and Pudsey, and then jumped to Garforth (number four) to get a perspective from East Leeds.
Living in a 20-minute neighbourhood (or thereabouts)
"You could walk everywhere in Morley, everything you need is in walking distance," Beth, 19, tells me. "I've been here for three years now and I love it - if I want to go out I would stay here.
"There's always something to do and events on. It's so up and coming and there really is so much more to come.
"Everybody knows everybody and is so friendly - I think everything being here does help with the community. It's progressed so much just in the time I've been here - we've just had it pedestrianised by the bars outside Morley Bottoms and that makes for a lovely space that brings the community together."
It is fairly immediately obvious that Morley is facility-rich. Its pedestrianised high street is bustling with people going in and out of a wide range of shops, cafes and bars.
I walk multiple GP surgeries and a dentist, a leisure centre, and the pretty Scatcherd Park. There's a big Morrisons just off the high street, a skatepark and a playground, churches, schools, and even a police and fire station, which is part of the reason Morley scores particularly highly.
Beth works at the colourful and vibrant bar Prospect, which is one of many places locals enjoy sitting out and having a drink.
"There's plenty of stuff to do, especially bars and pubs," residents Phil and Elaine tell me, as they enjoy a drink in the sun outside Eighteen90. "It's important to have amenities so we don't go too far and spend a lot of money travelling.
"It's a nice place to walk around and you can easily stroll up and down the pedestrianised area. You can walk to pretty much everything though the train station is slightly out of the way."
Patricia Hall says "there's everything I need and it's brilliant for kids as there's a lot of young families and the schools are close." She's enjoying the sun with her grandson's partner Yvonne, who she says would "love to get a house here."
Secondary school the Morley Academy was rated Outstanding in its last inspection in 2013. The Morley Newlands Academy was also rated Outstanding in a 2018 inspection.
Friends Trish Greenwood and Suzanne Summers agreed everything was easy to access in the centre of Morley, but that getting into the centre from Morley's suburbs can be difficult. "Access could be better bus wise," Suzanne said.
"They're unreliable and often cancelled. But once we're here we can walk to pretty much everything."
Couple Yvonne and Roy share a similar perspective on Pudsey as they relax outside the bus station. "It's lovely here - you can walk everywhere you need to go," Roy says.
"The parks are beautiful, we like the market, buses are easy to access and there's lots of shops. It's a great place to raise a family.
"We would like to see more public toilets though."
Pudsey isn't too dissimilar from Morley, with a leisure centre, lots of buses at its bus station, shops, cafes, bars and restaurants all busy with activity on a Friday afternoon. The playground and park are busy, and there's a massive Asda nearby.
Unlike Morley, the centre is mostly not pedestrianised, which doesn't leave it with the same atmosphere. It also doesn't have emergency services in close proximity.
Gordon, who has lived in Pudsey for 32 years and was spending the day walking his dog Teddy, said while he appreciates there are a lot of shops, he would like to see "more variation, maybe some better men's clothes shops or places you can buy odds and ends or things like furniture.
"It's got great walks though. And very good pubs!"
It's perhaps unsurprising that of the top four accessible local centres, three are relatively far from the city centre. There's more need for amenities close by if you can't access the city centre as quickly.
I head, finally, to Garforth, which has a comparatively much smaller central high street than Morley and Pudsey. But on that alone, it maintains a GP practice, two dentists, a few bars, multiple Italian restaurants, cafes, a Co-Op, pubs and several shops.
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It has also has two train stations within walking distance from the high street (why there is two five minutes apart in Garforth when many local centres have none is another question), a leisure centre (though no pool), an Outstanding secondary school and several primary schools. There's a big Tesco just up the street and a Lidl, and even a climbing wall and a skatepark.
Morley, Pudsey and Garforth, as well as their own selection of locals pubs, are also three local centres of Leeds home to their own Wetherspoons (The Picture House, The Crossed Shuttle and The Briggate), with other local centres that have one including Chapel Allerton, Headingley, Otley, Bramley and Yeadon - all of which score above 14 in the accessibility analysis. What came first, the Wetherspoons or the walkable, accessible local centre?
"It's walkable and compact on Main Street here so you can get most things you need on a day-to-day basis," I'm told by a Garforth resident, 54, who wanted to stay anonymous. "We do tend to prefer going out into Leeds but there are options here for eating and drinking on a night.
"It's a really good place to walk your dog in green space on the lines between here and Kippax or behind Tesco. It's a good place to raise children though some of the new bars we've got in the last few years mean it's noisier here than it used to be."
And finally, friends Brenda Massey, Anne Horner and Jean Ratchford, who have lived in Garforth for decades, are ready to sing the town's praises. "I love Garforth," says Anne.
"It's accessible for everywhere you want to get and Main Street is fantastic. We have great buses for a day out though I miss the community now that more people drive to outlets and things for shopping.
"But you can walk pretty much anywhere you need. I wouldn't live anywhere else."
Where do you think Leeds's 20-minute neighbourhoods are? Let us know in the comments!
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