Settlements Generalised 100m - National Statistical Boundaries - 2015

This requires the creation of suburbs and extensions to existing cities and legal towns, as well as delineating boundaries for settlements which are not legally defined (called Census towns). From 1971 to 2006, Census towns were defined as a cluster of fifty or more occupied dwellings where, within a radius of 800 metres there was a nucleus of thirty occupied dwellings (on both sides of a road, or twenty on one side of a road), along with a clearly defined urban centre e.g. a shop, a school, a place of worship or a community centre.

Census town boundaries where extended over time where there was an occupied dwelling within 200 metres of the existing boundary. To avoid the agglomeration of adjacent towns caused by the inclusion of low density one off dwellings on the approach routes to towns, the 2011 criteria were tightened, in line with UN criteria. In Census 2011 a new Census town was defined as being a cluster with a minimum of 50 occupied dwellings, with a maximum distance between any dwelling and the building closest to it of 100 metres, and where there was evidence of an urban centre (shop, school etc).