of the Great Preston Gilbert Union from 1809 until 1862, which provided a workhouse and poor relief for the parishes within its jurisdiction. The Gilbert Unions were exempt from the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 but disbanded in 1862 and after that Middleton became part of the Kirkstall Poor Law Union until 1869, when it joined the Hunslet Poor Law Union until 1920, the same year it was incorporated into the City of Leeds. Middleton is in the Middleton Park electoral ward and after the 2012 council elections, is represented on Leeds City Council by three Labour councillors. The Middleton Park ward is in the Leeds Central parliamentary constituency. At the 2010 UK general election the seat was held by Hilary Benn who represents the Labour Party with 49.3% of the vote. Geography Middleton is south of Leeds city centre and north north-west of London. It is situated on a hill and occupies most of a plateau which falls away sharply to the west (towards Dewsbury Road) and in the park to the north of Town Street from where there are extensive views towards the city centre. A height AOD is reached at the western end of Town Street and within the park are two steep-sided valleys with small streams separated by a tongue of land, which meet at AOD, its lowest point. The underlying geology is the coal measures and a bed of fireclay. Several coal seams outcrop in Middleton Park and between them are sandstones and shales. The township covered about 1700 acres, of which 450 are woodland known as Middleton Woods and contain the largest area of ancient woodland remaining in Leeds. The old village was a ribbon development along Town Street which runs west–east along a ridge and Middleton housing estate occupies flattish land to the south. The high point of Middleton is by the water tower at the western end of Town Street. Middleton is in an area surrounded by three motorways, the M62 motorway to the south, the M1 to the east and the M621 to the north. Demography In 2010, the Middleton Park ward which includes Belle Isle, had 27,487 inhabitants of which 52.2% were female and 47.8% male. 21.5% of the residents were aged 15 or under compared with an England average of 18.7%. Life expectancy for males and females at 76.57 years is more than three years less than the 79.91