List of conurbations in the United Kingdom

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A conurbation is formed when towns expand sufficiently that their urban areas join up with each other. This process has happened many times in the United Kingdom, with London being the most famous example of this type of development.

Green Belts were introduced in the 20th century to try to stop new conurbations forming. Clear conurbations however, exist at

South East Dorset conurbation - Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch in Dorset
Central Lancashire - Preston, Leyland and Chorley
Dearne Valley - Barnsley, Wombwell, Wath, Mexborough, Conisbrough
Fylde Coast - Blackpool, Fleetwood, Cleveleys, Thornton, Poulton-le-Fylde, Lytham St Annes
Greater Glasgow - Glasgow and suburbs
Leeds/Bradford in West Yorkshire
London, Greater London and London commuter belt
Greater Manchester conurbation, including City of Manchester, City of Salford, Trafford, Stockport, Oldham, Bolton, Tameside.
Medway towns (Chatham, Rochester, Gillingham)
Greater Merseyside conurbation, centred on Liverpool in Merseyside, also includes Ellesmere Port and Neston, Halton and St Helens.
Brighton urban area on the Sussex coast, including Littlehampton, Worthing, Lancing, Shoreham-by-Sea, Peacehaven, Brighton and Hove
Greater Portsmouth - including Portsmouth, Gosport, Fareham, Portchester, Havant, Waterlooville
The Potteries, including Stoke-on-Trent, Newcastle-under-Lyme and Kidsgrove.
Greater Nottingham - including Arnold, Hucknall, Beeston, West Bridgford, Eastwood and Long Eaton
Sheffield/Rotherham area in South Yorkshire
Greater Southampton - including Eastleigh, Hedge End, Totton and Eling
Teesside - Middlesbrough and Stockton-on-Tees
Torbay - Paignton, Torquay, Brixham
Tyne and Wear conurbation, including Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Sunderland, Gateshead
West Midlands conurbation, including Birmingham, Wolverhampton, the Black Country, Cannock and Solihull

In all of these, regardless of local government, towns that have become part of the conurbation have retained clear identities as separate towns. In England, some of these are recognised as metropolitan counties (Greater Manchester, Merseyside, South Yorkshire, Tyne and Wear, West Midlands, West Yorkshire), alongside Greater London which has a similar status. Others have become unified local government districts (such as Torbay, Medway).

There is a spectrum that can be drawn between the conurbations that have a clear 'head' (such as Nottingham, Portsmouth, Southampton) to those that are do not - known as multi-centred conurbations (such as Bournemouth/Poole and Teesside) - via ones that are more borderline (Tyne and Wear, West Midlands). In the case of the West Midlands, for example, the 'centre' city, Birmingham did expand massively and is now considered to include areas that were formerly independent towns, such as Sutton Coldfield and Aston. However, here it stopped, with the Black Country and Wolverhampton retaining strong identities.

In various parts of the country are more borderline cases, where the areas expanded into did not necessarily have strong identities as towns. However, the areas do retain separate local government structures, and are therefore considered conurbations by the ONS, on this basis :

Greater Bristol - Bristol, Kingswood, Longwell Green, Mangotsfield, Frenchay, Downend, Filton, Bradley Stoke, Patchway, Cribbs Causeway
Greater Leicester, including Birstall, Syston, Oadby and Wigston, Glenfield, Braunstone
Reading - including Reading, Woodley, Earley, Calcot, Tilehurst, Purley-on-Thames, Wokingham, Bracknell

There are also various places where whilst not actually running into each other, the amount of development in a large area is substantial. Heavily built up areas of this type include :

South Hampshire, consisting of the Portsmouth and Southampton areas mentioned above, was considered for metropolitan county status in the 1970s
West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire, which are both heavily built up but not entirely devoid of countryside (both are metropolitan counties)
Cardiff/Newport, consisting of the cities of Cardiff and Newport, Cwmbran, much of the eastern South Wales Valleys with towns such as Risca, Ebbw Vale, Pontypool and Caerphilly and part of the Vale of Glamorgan including Penarth and Barry.

The entire Merseyside/Warrington/Greater Manchester area is probably about as built up as West Yorkshire. There are gaps of countryside between towns on the way from Liverpool to Manchester, but not especially big ones. The area between is protected as part of a Green Belt, to stop the conurbation proceeding further.

Smaller examples of conurbations also exist on a more local level. For example, Warwick runs into Leamington Spa, Luton runs into Dunstable, and Grimsby runs into Cleethorpes.