Micklefield - Geography

Geography

The village is typical of Yorkshire's former coal mining communities with its mix of local authority and private houses. The village has undergone a rapid expansion in recent years with former commercial premises being demolished to make way for new private housing. The police house, fire station, community centre and local miner's welfare club have all closed leaving the village with one public house, the Blands Arms, and two local convenience stores, in addition to a stretch of land known locally as the "Mickie Rec" (recreation ground) which contains a football pitch, cricket pitch and two bowling greens.The "Rec" was owned and operated by the Coal Board before the closure of the local pit in 1984.

The 1½ mile, £460,000, Micklefield Bypass opened in 1960. It has since been replaced by the A1(M) in 2005. Nearby, to the west, is the A656 Roman Ridge.

It does retain its railway station, located approximately midway between Leeds to the west and York/Selby to the east. In June 2006 it won the award for "best kept railway station" in all of Yorkshire, after making huge strides in the refurbishment of the station. There are also proposals for a new station at Micklefield called East Leeds Parkway. This station would house a park and ride scheme with space for 500 cars. This station would be sited close to Micklefield and, if approved, would open in around 2012.

Through the 1970s and 1980s Micklefield earned itself a sometimes poor reputation locally as a result of the sizeable local authority housing estate (council houses) and policies then employed by Leeds City Council that tended to locate families and relatives living in pool housing close to one another rather than dispersed across the metropolitan district.