Rural Urban Classification (2001) of Local Authority Districts in EW (DEFRA)

The Rural Definition was introduced in 2004 as a joint project between the Commission for Rural Communities (CRC - formerly the Countryside Agency), the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) and the Welsh Assembly. It was delivered by the Rural Evidence Research Centre at Birkbeck College (RERC).

A) This new 'spectrum', or graded system, replaces the earlier Oxford/CA binary ward classification and adopts a settlement-based approach.

B) It is available for England and Wales at:

• Census Output Area (COA or OA)
• Census Super Output Area (CSOA or SOA)
• Ward
  
  [OAs consist of ~125 households and have a population of ~300. SOAs are built of OAs, typically 5, and so contain ~625 households or a mean population of ~1500. OAs therefore vary greatly in size and shape between urban and rural regions, for example a single tower block may consist of more than one OA, whereas a large area of remote moorland may be covered by a single OA.] 
  More information on OAs and SOAs.

C) Output areas are classified by morphology and context:

• Morphology
  • Urban (over 10,000)
  • Rural town
  • Village
  • Dispersed (hamlets and isolated dwellings)
• And context
  • Sparse
  • Less sparse

  This gives 8 Urban/Rural Classification (1 urban and 6 rural):

  1. Urban (Sparse)
  2. Urban (Less Sparse)
  3. Town (Less Sparse)
  4. Town (Sparse)
  5. Village (Less Sparse)
  6. Village (Sparse)
  7. Dispersed (Less Sparse)
  8. Dispersed (Sparse)