§ Mr. KeetchTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the parliamentary constituencies which he defines as being rural and the criteria he uses for defining rurality; and if he will make a statement. [27345]
§ Mr. MorleyThere is no generally accepted definition of what is rural. For example, the Rural Development Commission defines rural communities as those with up to 10,000 inhabitants. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development defines rural areas as those with a population below 150 inhabitants per square kilometre. But other definitions may be appropriate for particular circumstances.
In terms of parliamentary constituencies the review of Parliamentary Constituencies 1991 defined Borough Constituencies as 'predominantly urban' and County Constituencies as
'containing more than a small rural element'.Lists of County and Borough Constituencies are available in the Library.