Leicester Urban Area

Map of the Leicester Urban Area {2001}.

The Leicester Urban Area or Greater Leicester Built-up Area is an urban agglomeration centred on the City of Leicester in the English (Central South East) Midlands, UK. It forms the core of Eurostat's LUZ (Larger Urban Zone), and would be the primary focus of its Extended Metropolitan Region "EMR" or more loosely defined City region (United Kingdom).

While it has no formal definition as an administrative area, it is defined by the Office for National Statistics with a population of 508,916 at the time of the 2011 census.[1] This was an increase of 15% from the 2001 census population of 441,213. It comprises Leicester itself and several outlying suburbs, towns and villages which are all situated in close proximity to the city. A 2015 mid-year estimate indicates that population of the area in question may now be approaching 585,000 (583K), and that a modest extrapolation to 2020 gives a figure of just under 0.66 million (658K).

The urban area is the eleventh largest in England, between the Bristol Urban Area and the Brighton and Hove Built-up area, although given that it has recently experienced the highest growth rate of any English city (2011 census), there may well be a tendency for it to climb the table and even supplant one or two of its neighbours as its rate of growth exceeds that of Bristol, Sheffield and Nottingham. "Leicester" itself comprises a proportion of between c.55% to over 75% of the Urban Area population, dependent on whether its definition is restricted to the Unitary Authority (UA) in isolation or expanded to include its contiguous extra-UA suburbs. The needs, limitations and rights of the inhabitants of the more rural or socially or geographically isolated communities, that may account for another 5-15% of the total population of their respective disctricts, counties or larger communities, should always be borne in mind as they form an integral part of the extended cohort albeit that they may differentiated access thereto.

Urban Subdivision	Population (2001 census)	Population (2011 census)
Leicester	336,153	443,760
Wigston	33,116
Oadby	22,679
Birstall	11,480	12,216
Kirby Muxloe	9,500
Groby	6,256	6,782
Blaby	6,163
Whetstone	6,100	12,760
Beaumont Leys	5,579
Ratby	3,862
Cosby	3,647	3,506
Queniborough	2,257	2,326
Syston		12,804
Littlethorpe		1,766
Narborough/Enderby		12,996
Total Urban Area	441,213	508,916

Notes:

• The ONS's definition of "Leicester" in the 2001 census excluded the suburb of Beaumont Leys, which was counted separately, and amalgamated several surrounding towns and villages. Its boundaries and population were not the same as that of the Leicester UA, which had a separate population of 279,921 at the 2001 Census.

References

• Office for National Statistics: Census 2001 - Table KS01 (Usual resident population)
• Office for National Statistics: Census 2001 - Maps and index to urban areas

City Region (United Kingdom)