Lancashire Insight: Rural Urban Classifications

Rural Urban Classification 2021

Key points for Lancashire-12 (Lancashire-14 figures in brackets)

  • The RUC 2021 places 79% (82.6%) of the population and 20.6% (22.2%) of land area in 'Urban' classified areas
  • The RUC 2021 places 21% (17.4%) of the population and 79.4% (77.8%) of land area in 'Rural' classified areas
  • 6 (8) local authority districts were classified 'Urban'
  • 3 (3) local authority districts were classified 'Intermediate urban'
  • 2 (2) local authority districts were classified 'Intermediate rural'
  • 1 (1) local authority district was classified 'Majority rural'

A detailed explanation of the 2021 Rural Urban Classification (RUC) methodology can be found on the ONS website

The full RUC classification is based on address density, physical settlement form, population size and relative access to major towns and cities. The first three of these factors are used to determine the settlement classification. In 2021 there are only three categories (as opposed to six in 2011), these being

  • Urban
  • Larger rural settlement
  • Smaller rural settlement

The fourth basis for the RUC, relative access to major towns and cities, determines a separate measure with two categories, these being

  • Nearer to a major town and city
  • Further from a major town and city

The measurement is in terms of travel time rather than distance. The criterium is whether it is possible to drive to a major town and city with a population of 75,000 or more in 30 minutes. The remoteness measure serves as a proxy indicator of access to services, goods, opportunities and jobs.

These categories are then blended into six full RUC categories. Figure 1 in the Power BI report shows the full classification as a map for LSOAs. Table 3 shows population and area (hectares) with percentages for the full classification at Census Output Areas (COAs). The RUC21 does not give population or hectare figures for Lancashire. We have calculated these ourselves. The map below shows the RUC settlement classification at the most detailed COA level. Click on the map for a larger version in pdf format.

Settlement classifications, COA 2021

Geographies

The classification is for different geographical levels: Census Output Areas (COAs) of which there are 4,982 in the Lancashire-14 area, Lower layer Super Output areas (LSOAs) of which there are 945 in the Lancashire-14 areas and Middle layer Super Output Areas (MSOAs) of which there are 190 In the Lancashire Authority areas as well as local authority districts (LADs) which are classified differently. This article does not use the MSOA level data. Headline figures are based on COA level classification. These are shown in table 3 in the Microsoft Power BI report and add to the understanding of the LAD classifications. Other maps, figures and tables in the Power BI report are based on LSOA classifications. We have matched the 2001 and 2011 based RUCs to 2021 LSOAs (as far as this is possible) to compare the results over time and to indicate change.

County, district and national comparisons
The RUC 2021 places 79% of the population and 20.6% of Lancashire-12 land area in 'Urban' classified areas. Consequently the rural population is 21% of the total and rural land area is 79.4% of the total. For the Lancashire-14 area the urban percentages are 82.6% and 22.2% respectively while rural percentages are 17.4% and 77.8%. See table 3 for more details.
Blackpool is the only local authority in Lancashire which is entirely urban. By area Rossendale (69.1%) and South Ribble (66.4%) are the most urban in the Lancashire-12 area. Ribble Valley is 95.3% rural by area, closely followed by Lancaster (94.1%). Wyre, West Lancashire and Chorley are over 80% rural by area.
In terms of classification by population, Preston (94.9%), Burnley (94.8%), South Ribble (94%) and Rossendale (93.7%) are by far mostly urban. Only Ribble Valley is mostly rural at 61.4%. The districts with the highest percentage urban population tend to have very few areas and small population size classed as 'Larger rural'. The percentage urban population of the Lancashire-14 area (82.6%) is very close to the England and Wales figure (82.5%). The England and Wales area percentage for urban of 15.5% is noticeably lower than the Lancashire-14 figure of 22.2%. This may be due to the relatively small amount of high-rise housing in Lancashire compared to the larger cities.
Analysis of the relative access to major towns or cities measure
In this paragraph, for reasons of brevity, we will abbreviate the category names 'Nearer to a major town or city' and 'Further from a major town or city' to 'Nearer to' and 'Further from'. From table 3 in the Microsoft Power BI report it is seen that just 10.7% of the population of the Lancashire-12 area came under the 'Further from' relative access category. The percentage by area was 23.51%, nearly a quarter of the total. For Lancashire-14 area these percentages were less at 8.7% and 22.2% respectively, because there were no parts of Blackburn with Darwen or Blackpool that were 'Further from'. Only COAs from three districts are allocated to this category: much of Lancaster, seven in the north part of Ribble Valley and two in Wyre. The 'Smaller urban' COAs are quite large in terms of land area. The distribution of the two categories on the map, figure 1, might appear confusing at first glance. The urban part of Lancaster City was 'Further from' while the 'Smaller rural' area immediately to the south was 'Nearer to'. The explanation is not very straightforward. The Lancaster built-up area had a population of 53 thousand and was thereby below the 75 thousand population threshold of a major town or city. Morecambe had a population of 32 thousand and, although these built-up areas adjoin, they are regarded as separate. The 'Nearer to' areas just south of Lancaster City were so classed because the drive-time to Preston must be within 30 minutes. The even more confusing rural areas to the north-east of Lancaster City which are 'Nearer to' must also be within 30 minutes drive-time of Preston by virtue of their proximity to Junction 34 of the M6 motorway.
Local Authority District classifications
The RUC divides local authorities into four categories of urban, intermediate urban, intermediate rural and rural majority. Eight of Lancashire's local authorities are classified as urban, (Blackburn with Darwen, Blackpool, Burnley, Hyndburn, Pendle, Preston, Rossendale and South Ribble) three are intermediate urban (Fylde, Lancaster and Wyre), two are intermediate rural (Chorley and West Lancashire) and one is rural majority (Ribble Valley).

The categories are based on % of rural population thus

Urban:                         <20% rural pop
Intermediate urban:     20-<35% rural pop
Intermediate rural:       35-<50% rural pop
Majority rural               >=50% rural pop

At COA level West Lancashire has highest number of residents living in Rural COAs 42,853 (36.5%), above Chorley with 42,107 (35.8%). Ribble Valley had 37,782. At LSOA level Chorley had more (42,418) compared to West Lancashire (41,939) See Table 2. Notice change from 2011 when Chorley only had 4th largest rural population.

2001 and 2011 based classifications
Key changes from the 2011 classification

page updated April 2025

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