Inside Leeds Council Housing's Building Programme

A new planning application in Farsley is the latest step in a council building-and-buying drive that has delivered close to 1,900 affordable homes in three years

Leeds council housing is being built at a pace not seen in years, and a new planning application shows the programme rolling on. The council has just submitted plans for 25 affordable apartments at Richmond Road in Farsley, on the site of a demolished care home, one scheme among dozens in its Council Housing Growth Programme. That programme, together with the council’s wider affordable housing work, delivered close to 1,900 affordable homes across the city between 2022 and 2025.

Why This Matters For Leeds

Affordable housing is one of the city’s most pressing economic needs; it sustains construction work for local contractors and supply chains, brings vacant brownfield sites back into use and helps house the workforce that Leeds employers depend on. With ambitions now stretching to 2036, this is a long-term pipeline of investment, jobs and regeneration across the city’s communities.

What the Leeds Council Housing Programme Has Delivered

The Council Housing Growth Programme, launched around five years ago, works by both building new homes and buying existing ones for use as council housing. A council report last year showed 788 affordable homes, all for rent by council tenants, built or acquired in the programme’s first five years — more than 400 of them newly built — with a further 284 under construction or being acquired, and another 156 identified for delivery. Counting homes the council has facilitated through registered providers and housing associations, around 1,600 homes have been completed or are in the pipeline through its efforts. Current building sites include Middlecross in Armley, a 65-apartment scheme for older people with care needs, and an 82-home development at Hough Top near Pudsey. Recent applications at Wood Lane in Rothwell and Boggart Hill in Seacroft would add around 100 more.

“We are determined to use every tool at our disposal to deliver, either directly or through partnership working, good-quality affordable homes across the city.”

— Councillor Mary Harland, Executive Member for Housing, Leeds City Council

A Decade of Building Ahead

The activity now sits within a longer-term plan. In March the council approved its Leeds Affordable Housing Strategy for 2026 to 2036, which aims to scale delivery up to 1,500 affordable homes a year by 2036 through the council and its partners. Much of the funding for completed council homes has come through Right to Buy receipts and borrowing, and the new-build schemes use low-carbon heating and energy-efficiency measures in line with the city’s net zero goals. Importantly for the local economy, the council says its schemes are, where possible, delivered through local contractors and supply chains, generating training and jobs. The Richmond Road application, reduced from an earlier 33-home version after residents raised concerns, is a small piece of that much larger picture. But it is the steady accumulation of schemes like it that is reshaping Leeds council housing across the city.