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The key issue to be decided is whether we should aim for stability with OAs and SOAs through the next Census and beyond.  The consultation paper describes the issues surrounding this decision.  I know that there are many different views held.  Here are a selection of the comments made to me in the last couple of weeks, as I've been trailing the consultation:

• redraw the geography completely using the same algorithm but based on 2011 Census data and 2011 postcodes;
• keep SOAs, but redraw OAs within fixed SOA boundaries using 2011 Census data;
• the fundamental building blocks need to be real not abstract: redraw the whole lot and build it up from street blocks;
• we have to have ward, community, and parish level data too;
• now it's established you must keep it fixed, that's what it's for;
• as long as you've got grid referenced data you can give us any geography we want.  The disclosure risk from overlapping geographies is not so great.

To me, the message that has always come through most consistently, from members of all sectors of our user community, has been the stability one.  

Whether we can release data for more than one small area geography or not, the main geography must be consistent and stable.  That's what we've never had before.  Do you agree?  Let's open up the debate.  What should we do, and why?