Travel to Work Areas - England and Wales

A travel to work area or TTWA is a statistical tool used by

UK Government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_est ...

agencies and

local authorities Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...

, especially by the

Department for Work and Pensions , type = Department , seal = , logo = Department for Work and Pensions logo.svg , logo_width = 166px , formed = , preceding1 = , jurisdiction = Government of the United Kingdom , headquarters = Caxton House7th Floor6–12 Tothill Stree ...

and Jobcentres, to indicate an area where the population would generally

commute Commute, commutation or commutative may refer to: * Commuting, the process of travelling between a place of residence and a place of work Mathematics * Commutative property, a property of a mathematical operation whose result is insensitive to th ...

to a larger town, city or

conurbation A conurbation is a region comprising a number of metropolises, cities, large towns, and other urban areas which through population growth and physical expansion, have merged to form one continuous urban or industrially developed area. In most cas ...

for the purposes of

employment Employment is a relationship between two parties regulating the provision of paid labour services. Usually based on a contract, one party, the employer, which might be a corporation, a not-for-profit organization, a co-operative, or any o ...

Significance

As a measure based on urban areas and their commuter hinterland they are a form of

metropolitan area A metropolitan area or metro is a region that consists of a densely populated urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories sharing industries, commercial areas, transport network, infrastructures and housing. A metro area usually ...

, though as methods of calculation differ they cannot directly be compared with other specific measurements such as

metropolitan statistical area In the United States, a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) is a geographical region with a relatively high population density at its core and close economic ties throughout the area. Such regions are neither legally incorporated as a city or tow ...

s in the United States. TTWAs have no

legal status Legal status is the status or position held by an entity as determined by the law. It includes or entails a set of privileges, obligations, powers or restrictions that a person or thing has as encompassed in or declared by legislation Legisla ...

. However, they give planners and

geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society, including how society and nature interacts. The Greek prefix "geo" means "earth" a ...

s an alternate view of urban life as their boundaries are tied not to arbitrary administrative limits but

socio-economic Socioeconomics (also known as social economics) is the social science that studies how economic activity affects and is shaped by social processes. In general it analyzes how modern societies progress, stagnate, or regress because of their loc ...

ties. Having an idea of where people commute from for work is particularly useful for

public transport Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typi ...

planning.

Definition

Travel to work areas are defined by the

Office for National Statistics The Office for National Statistics (ONS; cy, Swyddfa Ystadegau Gwladol) is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department which reports directly to the UK Parliament. Overview The ONS is responsible for ...

using

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses inc ...

data for commuting between wards, based on the different locations of individuals' home and work addresses. A travel to work area is a collection of wards for which "of the resident economically active population, at least 75% actually work in the area, and also, that of everyone working in the area, at least 75% actually live in the area". According to this measure, there were 243 TTWAs within the United Kingdom in 2007.

2007

The 243 TTWAs were:

2011

The TTWAs were recalculated from 2011 census data. There are now 228 areas as follows:

The ''State of the Cities''

Travel to work areas were selected to approximate city regions as one of the main units of comparison used by the 2006 '' State of the English Cities'' report and database, commissioned and maintained by the Communities and Local Government department of the UK Government. This has greatly increased the amount of information available about travel to work areas, although the ''State of the Cities'' only publishes data for the 56 travel to work areas based around primary urban areas in England. Travel to work areas in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

and

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

and those covering only rural areas are not included. To increase the range of statistics available the ''State of the Cities'' also publishes data for travel to work areas approximated to local authority boundaries. These areas can differ considerably from the more accurate

ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

-based areas.Robinson, Phillipa
Presenting Statistics on UK Geographies
, State of the Cities Database, Presentation to North East Regional Information Partnership

References

External links

Office for National Statistics
* Map of UK TTWAs

UK 1997 Census tables using TTWAs

Travel to work in the UK (2016)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Travel To Work Area Geography of the United Kingdom Office for National Statistics Employment in the United Kingdom Types of subdivision in the United Kingdom Transportation planning Transportation geography Commuting