This carefully curated collection of photos charts two decades in the life of Colton and its residents. The gallery of memories turns back the clock to the 1980s and 1990s and brings into focus a range of stories making the local news headlines during the 20 years. The main photo from the 1990s shows villagers who had joined forces to fight a plan for a retail park on a field near their homes. Leeds City Council’s draft Unitary Development Plan envisaged a supermarket, garage and DIY superstore on a field between School Lane and Selby Road. But action group ACRES, the Austhorpe and Colton Residents' Environmental Society, claimed the last thing the area needed was a retail park. Life around the community during the 1980s had also witnessed its fair share of controversy with new access roads built for a proposed multi million pound housing development. The images featured have never been seen before having being digitised for the first time using photos from the Yorkshire Evening Post archive. READ MORE: Unseen photos chart of a golden age of Leeds pub culture LOVE LEEDS? LOVE NOSTALGIA? Join Leeds Retro on facebook YEP RETRO NEWSLETTER: Sign up for our free monthly email digest of Leeds nostalgia
7. Colton in the 1980s
Cottages on Colton Road East with outside toilets pictured in February 1981. | YPN Photo: YPN
8. Colton in the 1980s
The entrance to Colton village pictured in August 1985. | YPN Photo: YPN
9. Colton in the 1980s
January 1983 and a bus takes the old road into Colton while a new road from the roundabout at the Whitkirk-Selby Road junction remains closed awaiting development in the village. | YPN Photo: YPN
10. Colton in the 1980s
Some of the cottages on Park Road in old Colton pictured in September 1986. | YPN Photo: YPN
11. Colton in the 1980s
A picturesque view of rural Colton in September 1980 with its farm houses and hay barns - and the new roads being built for massive housing development. | YPN Photo: YPN
12. Colton in the 1980s
A bird's eye view of Colton village in January 1980. | YPN Photo: YPN