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Is Sheffield the 4th or 5th largest city?


John

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This debate has been raging for years and is really very easy to answer. Sheffield is the fourth largest LOCAL AUTHORITY in England and Wales and the fifth largest in Great Britain. The figures are collated by the census and in between estimated by the National Office of Statistics. Of course, some local authorities are called "cities" but others aren't.

 

These statistics relate, as I said, to the number of inhabitants in local authority areas.

 

In the case of Leeds (third largest local authority in England and Wales), the local authority includes places like Wetherby and Tadcaster, which aren't necessarily in the contigious urban area, but doesn't include Bradford or Wakefield, which are.

 

Sheffield includes Stocksbridge and Bradfield, which aren't in the built up area either, but doesn't include Rotherham or Dronfield, which are.

 

In the case of Manchester, the local authority is a very small area. To get from the city centre to Old Trafford, you go through no countyside, yet cross the border from Manchester to Trafford. It's the same case with Salford (where the border is IN the city centre, imagine walking down Fargate and seeing the sign "Welcome to Rotherham"), and to a lesser extent parts of Tameside and Stockport boroughs. There's no place more Mancunian than Old Trafford, yet it's not in the local authority called Manchester.

The same is true with Birmingham, which runs into Sandwell and Dudley and well as other local authorities.

 

So it's easy to measure the population the size of local authorities, but not of cities within them, because the discussion then starts about where the stop and where they start. And that's a discussion which is never-ending.

 

Let's just settle for Sheffield being the fourth largest local authority in England and Wales, and the fifth largest local authority in the UK.

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  • 3 months later...

There's lots of confusion about this as stats are taken differently (i.e. inner city etc) but this is the governments official rankings:

 

1.London

2.Birmingham

3.Manchester

4.Glasgow

5.Sheffield

6.Bristol

7.Newcastle

8.Leeds

9.Liverpool

10.Southampton

 

These stats include Manchester the city. These are up to date as well as populations change! Leeds has lost quite a few people. There's also confusion about London's official population. As a city it has 9.5million people, as a metropilan it has 12million! It is bigger than New York, just want to clarify that!

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Originally posted by goat

There's lots of confusion about this as stats are taken differently (i.e. inner city etc) but this is the governments official rankings:

 

1.London

2.Birmingham

3.Manchester

4.Glasgow

5.Sheffield

6.Bristol

7.Newcastle

8.Leeds

9.Liverpool

10.Southampton

 

These stats include Manchester the city. These are up to date as well as populations change! Leeds has lost quite a few people. There's also confusion about London's official population. As a city it has 9.5million people, as a metropilan it has 12million! It is bigger than New York, just want to clarify that!

 

So that makes Sheffield the 4th biggest in England and 5th in the UK then, which is what I always thought. Could you provide a URL for these rankings though? Also, how old are the figures?

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I used to hear Sheffield was the UK's BIGGEST village - and I think that's true in a good sort of way. Let's celebrate that.

 

The argument about size of city seems to depend on the definition of size and the statistics you care to use - a never ending discussion. If it seems to refer to the size of the postcode area - that's cheating.

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Originally posted by nuf_said

I used to hear Sheffield was the UK's BIGGEST village - and I think that's true in a good sort of way. Let's celebrate that.

 

The argument about size of city seems to depend on the definition of size and the statistics you care to use - a never ending discussion. If it seems to refer to the size of the postcode area - that's cheating.

 

As far as I know the above rankings are based on population.

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Sorry I didn't get the stats off the internet, they came from a home office document. If you go to the local library and ask for the 2003 home office stats they show you to it. The 2004 stats will be out in mid 2005. However Local authority is a stupid definition as this determines government and not population. For example I lived in Ipswich and Ipswich's population as a town was 113,340. However the local authority stretched all the way to Colchester, some 20 miles away as the population is thin and widespread. That would then take the population of Ipswich up to about 600,000 and similarly that of Colchester up to about 400,000 which is mis-guided and plain dumb! This was known as South Suffolk and N.Essex. Then there is Suffolk Coastal etc.

 

Birmingham is a classic example. If you take Birmingham as a local authority then you involve West Bromwich, Wolverhampton, Dudley etc and the population is nearing the 5 million mark! However Birmingham as a city includes Aston etc and this is city boundaries where Birmingham city council rules and not the LA of Birmingham.

 

Rule of thumb, look at signposts and where it says welcome to.... wherever, that is officially the city/town and then any areas outside which are controlled by the city or have links to interior city places, e.g. high school outside boundary but take in people from inside boundary as well as outside.

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also just to clarify I'm not actually from Sheffield and have actually only been there about 5 times in my life! I've lived in many places in my life including East London, South London, Chelmsford, the Wirral, Portsmouth, Ipswich and currently Southampton! So I'm taking a neutral view here! However I do like Sheffield, got a good atmosphere! Sheffield is 5th! Stats are always taken on a UK basis, not England! Also love the fact that the capital of Wales isn't there and about! Because it's not that big! But fantastic city!

 

OH YES!!

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