Wards
Ward Geography
Every twenty years the Boundary Committee for England reviews electoral wards (called Periodic Electoral Reviews) with a view to adjusting boundaries to take account of new housing development and clearances. As a consequence, the numbers of people living in each electoral ward are equally spread through the area.
The following Adobe documents provide information on the electoral wards for the 170 most commonly requested topics and their associated 2001 Census indicators. The data is given as both counts, and as rates of the associated ‘population denominators’. For example, for employment, both the numbers employed and the percentage that number forms of the working age population, (16 to 59 for females and 16 to 64 for males), are given. Ward maps are also attached for information.
You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view this information.
Current Wards (May 2003)
The last review in County Durham took place in 1999 and the resulting new ward boundaries came into effect for the district council elections held in May 2003. Although the 2001 Census took place in April 2001, its results were released using this new ward geography, consisting of 135 wards, not those in effect at that time.
Indicator list for Current Ward Geography (135 Wards).pdf (9 pages, 28kb)
Current Ward Map.pdf (1 page, 155kb)
Census 2001 Summary Sheets (2003 Wards) - Numbers.pdf (252 pages, 618kb)
Census 2001 Summary Sheets (2003 Wards) - Rates.pdf (236 pages, 612kb)
These figures can also be viewed as an interactive report using software called InstantAtlas: 2001 Census Summaries - Interactive Report.
Frozen Wards (pre-May 2003)
However, for the purposes of examining changes in the statistics over time, it is also important to relate the Census data to the former ward boundaries. So we have recast the Census results for the County to the 152 pre-May 2003 wards, (called 'frozen' wards), on the basis of a 'best fit' approximation using Census Output Areas, (which is an area containing an average of around 300 people), and postal addresses to determine the split where an Output Area straddles more than one ward boundary:
Indicator list for pre-May 2003 Ward Geography (152 Wards).pdf (8 pages, 28kb)
Pre-May 2003 Ward Map.pdf (1 page, 157kb)
Census 2001 Summary Sheets (frozen wards) - Numbers.pdf (179 pages, 486kb)
Census 2001 Summary Sheets (frozen wards) - Rates.pdf (163 pages, 480kb)
The key Census indicators are also provided on this ‘frozen’ ward geography because the frozen wards are based on an approximation using Output Areas. The data for the 'frozen' wards may not add up precisely to district and County totals.
The above indicator list for these wards is slightly different to the list for the current wards because these pre-May 2003 wards were built using the Census Area Statistics, which contain less detail than the Standard Tables.
Copies can also be obtained by contacting the Corporate Research and Information team (Email), tel. 0191 383 4340.
