Settlements 2001

This dataset portrays the boundaries of ‘Settlements’ in Scotland as at 2001 Census.

There is widespread interest in statistics for the built-up areas in Scotland as most of the population lives in a built-up environment. When the former two-tier local government structure of regions and districts came into being in May 1975, the small local authorities known as large and small burghs were lost. However, Census users stated that there was a need to know the population (and characteristics) of built-up areas.

There are 2 datasets which are designed to show the boundaries of ‘urban areas’ in Scotland: ‘Localities’ and ‘Settlements’. While “Settlements’ can go a long way in defining the towns and cities in Scotland, some are very extensive and have grouped together some very large populations. For example the settlement of ‘Greater Glasgow’ has a large population but no breakdown was given of the settlement into any constituent towns or cities such as Airdrie or Paisley. Accordingly, since 2001, the larger ‘Settlements’ have been divided into ‘Localities’ using as a basis the areas so designated in the 1991 Census report ‘Key statistics for ‘localities’ in Scotland (ISBN 0-11-495736-3)’.

For the 2001 Census, NRS had developed a new process to identify ‘Settlements’ which were defined as:

‘A collection of contiguous high population density postcodes whose total population was 500 or more, bounded by low density postcodes (or water).’

 
Citation proposal
(2003) . Settlements 2001. Scottish Government https://services.mspdata.eu:/geonetwork/srv/api/records/234afebe-71ea-4d3d-a2a1-b418d18666d3

Simple

Date ( Publication )
2003-02-13
Date ( Creation )
2003-02-13
Identifier
www.nrscotland.gov.uk / Settlements2001

  Owner

  Publisher

Maintenance and update frequency
asNeeded As needed
GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0 ( Theme )
  • Land use
Use limitation
The following attribution statement must be used to acknowledge the source of the information: Contains NRS data © Crown copyright and database right (insert year), contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right (insert year)
Access constraints
otherRestrictions Other restrictions
Other constraints
Available under the Ordnance Survey (OS) Open Data Licence (www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/opendata/licence)
Use limitation
no conditions apply
Denominator
10000
Metadata language
eng English
Topic category
  • Boundaries
Geographic identifier
SCT

 

Date ( Revision )
2007-04-13

N
S
E
W


Reference system identifier
EPSG / OSGB 1936 / British National Grid (EPSG:27700) / 7.4
Distribution format
  • ESRI Arc/View Shapefile (10.0 )

  • WMS (1.3.0 )

OnLine resource
National Records of Scotland website  

Geography – 2001 Census Boundaries

Hierarchy level
dataset Dataset
Statement

There is widespread interest in statistics for the built-up areas in Scotland as most of the population lives in a built-up environment. When the former two-tier local government structure of regions and districts came into being in May 1975, the small local authorities known as large and small burghs were lost. However, Census users stated that there was a need to know the population (and characteristics) of built-up areas.

There are 2 datasets which are designed to show the boundaries of ‘urban areas’ in Scotland: ‘Localities’ and ‘Settlements’. While “Settlements’ can go a long way in defining the towns and cities in Scotland, some are very extensive and have grouped together some very large populations. For example the settlement of ‘Greater Glasgow’ has a large population but no breakdown was given of the settlement into any constituent towns or cities such as Airdrie or Paisley. Accordingly, since 2001, the larger ‘Settlements’ have been divided into ‘Localities’ using as a basis the areas so designated in the 1991 Census report ‘Key statistics for ‘localities’ in Scotland (ISBN 0-11-495736-3)’.

For the 2001 Census the General Register Office for Scotland (as it then was) had developed a new process to identify ‘Settlements’ in Scotland. A Settlement was defined as:

‘A collection of contiguous high population density postcodes whose total population was 500 or more, bounded by low density postcodes (or water).’

A postcode was defined as high density if at least one of the following applied:

• It had more than 2.1 residential addresses per hectare; or

• It has more than 0.1 non-residential addresses per hectare

The second condition is included so that non-residential parts (eg industrial estates) of built up areas could be identified.

These density thresholds were adjusted downwards for some Council Areas (generally those with crofting communities) in order to ensure that at least 95 per cent of postcodes identified as ‘Localities’ in 1991 were selected as high density.

Having identified the individual high density postcodes it was then possible to identify groups of neighbouring high density postcodes containing in total more than 210 residential addresses. These groups were made to include any ‘holes’, ie low density postcodes entirely surrounded by high density ones. Estimates of the population in each group were made, and any group considered to have fewer than 500 residents were discarded.

The threshold densities of 2.1 and 0.1 were found to give a good approximation to the built-up areas identified in previous Censuses using more traditional methods.

These threshold densities were adjusted in two council areas (Eilean Siar and Shetland) where, because of crofting and other factors, settlement patterns vary considerably from the Scottish norm.

Metadata

File identifier
234afebe-71ea-4d3d-a2a1-b418d18666d3   XML
Metadata language
eng English
Hierarchy level
dataset Dataset
Hierarchy level name
dataset
Date stamp
2017-08-15
Metadata standard name
ISO 19115:2003/19139
Metadata standard version
1.0

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