From 14 July, the diocese will be known solely by its official, legal name, The Diocese of Leeds.
Bishop Nick says, “Since the diocese was created, we have always legally been the Diocese of Leeds, but were allowed to informally call ourselves 'The Diocese of West Yorkshire & the Dales’. However, the experience of the past two years has shown that (as was noted at Diocesan Synod) having two names for the diocese is too confusing for people both inside and outside the Church.
The diocese has been working with a Leeds design company, The Common Room, for our new visual identity. The first stage is the creation of a logo (downloadable here) which will be used in all our diocesan communications from 14 July. It is a straightforward, timeless logo that clearly positions us as part of the Church of England. (This is particularly important given that there is already a Roman Catholic Diocese of Leeds).
Other disadvantages of the name ‘West Yorkshire & the Dales’ are that, while it mostly describes where we are (although it leaves out a number of places), it’s too long (and prone to errors in emails), and the connection between Bishop Nick and the diocese is sometimes lost. (He is the Bishop of Leeds; there is not a Bishop of West Yorkshire & the Dales).
Calling ourselves the Diocese of Leeds is consistent with other dioceses, which (as they have to be named after the See of the Bishop) are named after a city but cover disparate areas, eg Oxford (which includes Milton Keynes) and Lichfield (which includes Wolverhampton).
Email addresses
From 14 July the diocesan email address will change to name.name@leeds.anglican.org (The @westyorkshiredales.anglican.org address will continue to send emails to the new address.)
Website
The new website address will be www.leeds.anglican.org
Twitter
The Twitter name will change to: @CofELeeds