USING RESEARCH TO INFORM THE CITY REGIONS DEBATE
By Claire Richmond
Definitions of ‘city region’ are not difficult to come by. The term has been used since the
1950s by land-use planners and economists to mean not just the administrative area of a
recognisable city or conurbation, but also smaller urban centres and rural areas in its broad
sphere of influence. Identifying the extent of a specific ‘city region’ proved a different matter.
Whilst we don’t pretend to have emulated the academic studies that have gone before us, we
have brought clarity to debate in a limited time period with minimal funds.
Background
The city regions research arose out of the Three Cities project, a collaboration of Derby,
Leicester and Nottingham City Councils, Nottingham East Midlands Airport and other key
partners working to bring about sustainable economic development. Those involved were
aware that the Three Cities had a vital role to play, representing the major urban areas in the
East Midlands, but the extent of their importance was unknown.
The Policy and Information Team in the City Development Department of Nottingham City
Council were asked to map the city regions to inform debate, and to help answer such
questions as ‘how many people rely on our services?’, ‘what do we have to offer investors?’
and ‘which authorities do we need to work with to maximise the Region’s contribution to
national economic growth?’.
The relevant factors
Desk based research quickly showed current academic and policy thinking 1 to be broadly in
agreement on the key determinants, i.e.
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housing markets and migration
retail catchments
commuting patterns
transport connections and travel times
In 1997 Coombes et al2 identified city regions using such indicators. This analysis was based
on 1991 Census results so it was decided that more recent data for each key determinant
should be mapped using ArcGIS software. In order to enable comparison consistent
boundary definitions from independent sources were used where possible.
Housing markets and retail catchments
The timing proved fortunate for viewing the city region from the perspective of both of these.
The East Midlands Regional Assembly and East Midlands Regional Housing Board had
commissioned research to determine which local authorities should jointly conduct Housing
Market Assessments (HMAs)3. In the process of doing this sub-regional housing markets
were identified, defined as areas in which 70% of all houses moves were contained. They
drew on data on household movements, travel to work patterns and employment
concentrations (from the 2001 Census), and on consultation.
Each of the Three Cities have major shopping centres due for expansion. Therefore much
work had already been done4 to define current city centre catchments in order to demonstrate
how the proposals would increase these. Unfortunately the three catchments had been
drawn up in different ways, with the result that each accounted for a different percentage of
the respective city centre’s spend. However they all came within ten percentage points of
each other, so it was decided that these catchments would satisfy the purposes of the study.
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Figure 1 Retail Catchments of the Three Cities
Sources: JHD Advisors 2002, GMA Planning 2002, Roger Tym and Partners 2003.
Transport connections and commuting
The frequencies of bus services during the morning rush hour were used to indicate transport
connections. Most of the information was already available from major bus operators or
easily accessible on the web. Boundaries were drawn around the main locations to give an
impression of the distances covered, with the caveat that this by no means implied all
locations contained by these boundaries were as well served as the main towns.
The commercial nature of bus service provision gives an indication of demand for
connections, and so the importance of cities to their surrounds. It was thought that bus travel
might be less important in Derby and Leicester in the morning than in Nottingham due to good
train services. This might have suggested that focusing on buses alone would produce
artificially small catchment areas for those cities. However, examination of Census figures
showed a relatively low number of commuters actually travelling by train to Derby and
Leicester, so restricting the analysis to buses was not considered to introduce any bias.
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Figure 2 Frequency of Bus Services to Nottingham
Sources: Trent Barton 2005, Nottingham City Transport 2005
Unfortunately Travel to Work Areas (TTWAs) have become dated. In the absence of a
revised national set the old ones were mapped with added commentary on changing local
factors. In Nottingham for example, the Census tells us that more people are travelling into
the City to work and people are travelling greater distances. Coupled with the bus connection
information taken for rush hour, this was the best indication that could be determined in the
time available.
Getting the message across
The mapped boundaries showed the extent of the city regions for each of the different factors.
These are each relevant for different purposes, and there has not as yet been any attempt to
merge the different definitions in to one definitive set of city regions. Nor was it possible to
show all the boundaries on one map, because of the volume of information. However,
presenting the maps sequentially and maintaining similar colours, styles and scales
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maximised the visual impact. The layer files were used to extract a range of approximate
statistics including population5, households6 and workplace jobs7. A reference map was also
produced with district boundaries and urban areas (as defined in the 2001 Census) to aid
understanding of the political dimension, which many found informative in its own right.
What the research revealed
Nottingham’s city region was consistently more populous than those of Derby and Leicester.
Leicester was second largest on all bar transport, where Derby’s reach was greater due to
frequent connections to Nottingham. Retail catchments were greater than the TTWAs,
indicating a larger geographical draw for some types of shopping (perhaps a weekly trip) than
for work (a more regular journey). The bus connection data showed the largest areas, partly
due to the crude method and lack of indication of volume of patronage. Detailed work
currently being undertaken as part of the Department for Transport’s Accessibility Planning
may present scope to explore this issue further.
Of more importance for policy was that the city regions, however defined, were all significantly
larger than the respective administrative borders. Indeed, the Nottingham city region was
consistently more populous even than the Sub-regional Strategic Partnership area which is
the basis for our economic development and transport planning. Taking the Nottingham retail
catchment as an example, the research demonstrates that our services could affect 1.24m
people across 15 authorities, not just the local authority’s 274,000 residents. Even the TTWA,
one of the least populous versions of the city region, indicates our economic development
affects (and is dependent upon) at least seven other authorities. The work is therefore
challenging the way we plan and deliver services.
The research has also helped to demonstrate linkages between the Three Cities, both to the
three authorities and to neighbouring districts. It revealed some overlap of city regions,
primarily for retail and transport. This was most evident between Nottingham and Derby, and
to a lesser extent between Nottingham and Leicester. Connections between Derby and
Leicester were minimal. 2001 Census data showed commuting between the three local
authorities was still at a relatively low level (and the extent of connections between other
authorities and between businesses has yet to be determined). Whilst this implies that the
benefits of scale afforded by the Three Cities working together have yet to be fully exploited, it
does show potential. As a result a different policy approach to that of other Regions is now
being pursued, that of economic development through a polycentric city region comprising
distinct conurbations with shared objectives.
For further information, please contact Claire Richmond at Nottingham City Council
([email protected])
1
Examples include City Region Boundary Study, Derek Halden Consultancy, Scottish Executive Central
Research Unit, 2002 and Our Cities Are Back, Third Report of the Core Cities Working Group, 2004
2
Localities and City Regions, Coombes M.G., Wymer C., Atkins D. and Openshaw S, 1997
3
Identifying the Sub-Regional Housing Markets of the East Midlands, DTZ Pieda Consulting, January
2005.
Eagle Centre – Derby, Retail Appraisal Report, JHD Advisors for Westfield Shoppingtowns Limited,
February 2002; Leicester City Retail Capacity Study, Roger Tym and Partners August 2003. Central
Leicestershire Retail Study, September 2003; Broadmarsh – Nottingham, Retail Appraisals, JHD
Advisors in association with GMA Planning for Westfield Shoppingtowns Limited, May 2002.
4
5
ONS 2003 Mid-Year Estimates, and ONS Mid-2002 Experimental Ward Estimates where necessary
6
2001 Census
7
2003 Annual Business Inquiry
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