restricting actual development. Greater Nottingham Partnership/D2N2 The local authorities collaborate in some ways. The Greater Nottingham Partnership considered Greater Nottingham to consist of the City of Nottingham plus the entirety of the Rushcliffe, Broxtowe and Gedling boroughs, along with Hucknall from Ashfield, but no part of Derbyshire, as no Derbyshire council was a member of the Partnership. They together worked as an advisory and lobbying body for projects and decisions involving the region. However it was axed due to funding in 2011 and the D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership is instead assuming those functions with cross-county political and local business support. Nottingham-Derby metropolitan area The conurbation forms a large part of the Nottingham-Derby metropolitan area, which has an estimated population of 1.5 million. The urban areas of both Derby and Nottingham are almost continuous with Draycott (part of the Breaston Urban sub-division) being almost continuous with the Borrowash part of the Derby Urban Area. The Mansfield Urban Area also forms part of this metropolitan area, although it is not continuous with the Nottingham Urban Area. However, it is almost continuous with the Alfreton/South Normanton Built-up area, which had a population of 41,289 according to the last census, with the South Normanton/Pinxton Urban sub-division of the Alfreton Urban Area being almost continuous with the Sutton-in-Ashfield Urban sub-division of the Mansfield Urban Area. The Alfreton Urban Area is also nearly continuous with Ripley part of the Nottingham Urban Area. Other minor urban areas to the west of the Ripley, Heanor and West Hallam sub divisions daisy-chain towards Derby from the north, notably Belper, Kilburn and Crich/Heage. See the maps above for a demonstration of these BUAs in close proximity. See also Derby Built-up area Nottingham and Derby Green Belt List of conurbations in the United Kingdom List of metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom References External links Scalable map highlighting the 2011 Nottingham BUA and subdivisions Office for National Statistics: Census 2001, Key Statistics for urban areas Top 50 Urban Areas - 1991 Census Map depicting ONS definition Nottingham Insight - Key datasets Nottingham Geography of Nottinghamshire Urban areas of England Geography of Derbyshire