List of urban areas in the United Kingdom

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. In many cases, there are differences of interpretation as to the limits of a conurbation - where it begins and ends. For the purposes of consistency, the list on this page sets out urban areas as defined by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The ONS definition of an urban area is based on the continuously built-up area, and is as follows:-

"The definition of an urban area is an extent of at least 20 hectares and at least 1,500 residents at the time of the 2001 Census. The starting point is the identification by OS (Ordnance Survey) of areas with land use which is irreversibly urban in character. This comprises permanent structures and the land on which they are situated, including land enclosed by or closely associated with such structures; transportation corridors such as roads, railways and canals which have built up land on one or both sides, or which link built-up sites which are less than 200 metres apart; transportation features such as airports and operational airfields, railway yards, motorway service areas and car parks; mine buildings, excluding mineral workings and quarries; and any area completely surrounded by builtup sites. Areas such as playing fields and golf courses are excluded unless completely surrounded by builtup sites. The prerequisite for the recognition of an urban area is that the area of urban land should extend for 20 hectares or more. Separate areas of urban land are linked if less than 200 metres apart. Land between built-up areas is not regarded as urban unless it satisfies one of the conditions listed above."^[1]

List of most populous urban areas

The list below shows the most populous urban areas in the UK as defined by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), showing all those with a population in excess of 70,000 at the 2001 census.

Commentary

There is a spectrum that can be drawn between the conurbations that have a clear 'head' (such as Bristol and Leicester) to those that do not, known as multi-centred conurbations (such as Bournemouth/Poole and Teesside), via ones that are more borderline (West Midlands). In the case of the West Midlands, for example, the largest 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.

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.
• Tyne and Wear, West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire, which are all heavily built up but not entirely devoid of countryside (all three are metropolitan counties).
• The area consisting of Greater Manchester, Merseyside and parts of Cheshire (mainly Halton (borough) and Warrington) is heavily built up and considered by some to be a conurbation^[8]
• The London Commuter Belt consisting of Greater London and large densely populated parts of the home counties is heavily built up and is considered one of the world's largest cities.
• 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 Nottingham-Derby Metropolitan area which mainly consisits of three large conurbations, the Nottingham Urban Area, the Derby Urban Area and the Mansfield Urban Area.

Smaller examples of conurbations also exist on a more local level. For example, Flitwick runs into Ampthill, Anston runs into Dinnington and Ystradgynlais runs into Ystalyfera.

In Merseyside there is a split between Liverpool Urban Area and the Birkenhead Urban Area. These two localities are often thought to be a single region, Greater Merseyside, as only the distance of the River Mersey separates them. Together, they have a population of 1,135,891. Newcastle/Gateshead, for example, does claim both sides of the River Tyne, however does not include the nearby city of Sunderland. Additionally, the Liverpool Urban Area is not consistent with the Liverpool City Region, which includes the nearby localities of Widnes and Runcorn in Halton. The Urban Region does not.

See also

• List of largest United Kingdom settlements by population
• Green belt (United Kingdom)
• Metropolitan areas of Ireland
• List of metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom
• City region (United Kingdom)

References