People on the forum seem to be obsessed with the term estate, I often see it used in a negative way when implying that people 'come down from the estates' to do their poundland shopping ect.

However when discussing other areas of the city Crookes or Totley for example they dont qualify as an estate? or WPV for that matter.

Does this title only refer to local authority owned property? And whats so bad about acknowledging that you live on an estate.

I think that an estate is a planned housing scheme, whereas districts sutch as totley, stannington, woodseats etc. were small villages which have grown and joined to the reas of the sprawl of the city.
However I don't think that estate is necessarily a bad word. Mosborough is described in terms of townships, and that is surely just another alternative to the word estate.
Wentworth avenue Off Abbey Lane, although extremely fake and crass looking is an expensive estate. It is full of larger houses which while varied, are essentially similar styles.

The word probably originates in this context from a farmland estate which has been sold off to builders.

Totley DOES have estates though, former council estates. I don't understand why people think of Totley as being so upmarket when it has so many ex council houses and prices there are relatively low.

I agree with the definition though - a planned development that happens all at once is an estate, not normal streets that develop over time. This could be a new housing estate (ugh, legoland), or a council housing estate. The negative connotations are due to the fact that the term "estate" is usually preceded by "council".