rurality-early-versions-confirmed

Date: 2026-09-25. Status: implemented.

Decision. The four Urban Rural Classification versions not linked from the catalogue record, 2003-2004, 2005-2006, 2007-2008 and 2009-2010, stay in the registry and in the history table on the same footing as the five catalogued ones. Version by reference year remains a project choice.

Reason. They were found at the publisher's own download address but are absent from the catalogue record, so their standing needed confirming before they supported historical analysis. The publisher has now confirmed it.

Evidence. Email reply from the Scottish Government's Rural Statistics team, 25 September 2026, to a query sent to RuralStatistics@gov.scot with GI-SAT@gov.scot copied. Having consulted colleagues, they confirmed that the four versions, under the same Open Government Licence, are the most appropriate ones for the relevant time periods; that they encourage the most recent version in general but that previous versions are appropriate for historical analysis; and that there were no major methodological changes making the versions not comparable. The reply did not address reference year against publication date.

Columns (12): urbanrural2003_2004_6fold, urbanrural2003_2004_8fold, urbanrural2003_2004_status, urbanrural2005_2006_6fold, urbanrural2005_2006_8fold, urbanrural2005_2006_status, urbanrural2007_2008_6fold, urbanrural2007_2008_8fold, urbanrural2007_2008_status, urbanrural2009_2010_6fold, urbanrural2009_2010_8fold, urbanrural2009_2010_status