This geographic level constitutes the formal definition of rural England and Wales. It is the definition approved as a ‘national statistic’ by the Office for National Statistics and launched by Defra in its Rural Strategy 2004. There are different versions of the definition at this level depending upon the type of census area involved i.e. Census Output Areas, 2003 Statistical wards, Census Area Statistics (CAS) wards and Super Output Areas. The RERC Consortium proposed to work mainly with the first two of these types of area.
Other RERC first phase work using the new rural definition at census areas level, includes studies of population migration in different types of rural area, the construction of census data typologies of rural areas in general and smaller towns, and a study of changing patterns of travel to work within and between rural areas. The definition will also feature in the selection of areas for the rural social capacity and transport studies.