The North Hyde Park Neighbourhood Association grew out of The Regent Park Residents’ Association. This was formed in 1971 in response to the threat from a proposed express way which was to run the length of Headingley Lane, as well as other issues felt to affect the area’s well-being.

Proposed express ways weren’t the only problems facing the neighbourhood at that time. It was discovered that the terraced houses on Cliff Road, running between Cross Cliff Road and Montpelier Terrace, and back onto Cliff Lane, were scheduled for demolition. This was part of the City Council’s Provisional Housing Renewal Programme of 1977/81. In 1972, a splinter group: The Cliff Lane/Road Residents’ and House Owners’ Group was formed to fight this proposal. After eighteen months of hard campaigning, the terrace was removed from the Programme in 1974. 

Other fights were also underway. One, which involved three local residents’ groups, was to save Little Moor, the grassy tree lined area at the bottom of Cliff Road (known locally as The Green) from destruction. It was planned to build a hostel for people with disabilities on this land, despite the fact that it stood opposite the remains of West End Terrace, which was due for complete demolition. Luckily common sense prevailed and Little Moor was saved.  By 1974, the hostel, Cliff Dene, was up and running on the site of West End Terrace. Little Moor still exists – a green space to be enjoyed by all.

The second campaign involved one of the last remaining buildings on West End Terrace, Bradley’s Fish & Chip Shop. This was a popular local resource which people were reluctant to lose, so a campaign was launched to save the fish & chip shop and relocate it to Hyde Park Corner. In 1974 the Fish & Chip Shop moved into its new premises at 12 Hyde Park Corner, where it remained for many years, changing hands from time to time.

Another occupied building on the wasteland of West End Terrace was Murray’s Garage. This relocated to the top of what was West End Terrace, where it meets Cross Cliff Road. It is still there today and known as West End Garage.

By 1973, it was decided to form just one group to tackle local issues and North Hyde Park Residents’ Association came into existence. In 1980 the word Residents’ was then replaced by Neighbourhood, since it was felt that people might think that the association was only for home owners.

Prompted by these campaigns it was decided that North Hyde Park would greatly benefit from becoming part of the Headingley Hill Conservation Area. There then followed a lot of work by NHPNA’s members to gather relevant information in support of an application for this inclusion. This was successful and in 1974 most of North Hyde Park became a conservation area. The area was greatly extended and the Plan subjected to detailed revision in 2012, with members again heavily involved in archival investigation and fieldwork. NHPNA also contributed to The Headingley and Hyde Park Neighbourhood Design Statement in 2010.

Many other campaigns followed.  Some successful, others not. Some were specific to North Hyde Park, others involved wider issues and working with other residents’ associations. One of the successful local campaigns involved local children and the land now known as Dagmar or Dagmar Wood.

Dagmar is the name given to the area of open land on Grosvenor Road, bordering the back road behind Regent Park Terrace. In 1980, after a three-year campaign involving the children of North Hyde Park, Dagmar was saved from the threat of development and ‘given’ to the NHPNA, by Leeds City Council, for us to manage and local children to use as an informal playground. Dagmar had originally belonged to Grosvenor House – the old vicarage. In the early 70s the land was prepared to be built on. Luckily for the neighbourhood the land was discovered to be too unstable for development.  Since then we have held community events on the land including productions by local theatre group, Theatre of the Dales.

Since the 80s NHPNA has continued to work for the betterment of the area. It has also continued to join forces with surrounding areas to campaign on issues which have a wider impact. Some of these more recent successful campaigns have included seeing off the proposed Trolley Bus route along the A660, which would have cut a great swathe through the conservation area and changed its character forever. Another was a very long struggle against the proliferation of HMOs (Houses in Multiple Occupation), which were having a negative effect on our areas. After years of persistence, what is known in Planning-speak as an Article 4 Direction came into being. This meant that anyone wishing to change a property into a multi-let had to apply for planning permission, which was unlikely to be granted in areas such as our own which already had an over-abundance of this type of accommodation.

The reason Woodhouse Moor is still a lovely park and Monument Moor, on the opposite side of Woodhouse Lane, is not a car park, is also down to successful campaigns by local residents’ groups. 

There have been many campaigns, some small, some large; some concerning very local issues, others involving surrounding areas as well as our own. NHPNA continues to campaign to keep our area an attractive place for all to live in.

EVENTS

We hold at least one annual event plus a range of activities and local events in Dagmar Wood throughout the year. We also hold an Annual General Meeting which, in addition to formal business, includes a presentation on a topic of local interest. Recent AGMs have included speakers on the Leeds bid to be the European City of Culture, Traffic Problems on Headingley Lane, Leeds City Council’s Air Quality Strategy, the Climate Emergency, and local history. Other meetings on matters of local interest are held when needed. Members are kept informed of our events through our regular newsletters and through social media.