In 1871 , the park was bought by Leeds City Council for use by the public . In 1871 three years of the death of William Nicholson , Roundhay park was put up for sale and was purchased for Â # 139,000 by a group including the Mayor of Leeds John Barran , then purchased by Leeds City Council for the same sum , and given to the people of Leeds as a Park . At the time Roundhay was over 3 m away from Leeds and the council was unable to purchase such a large tract of land without an Act of Parliament , which was obtained on 21 June 1871 .