Welcome to the Planning Statistics website, developed by Geofutures and funded by the National Retail Planning Forum (NRPF) to make local-level UK planning statistics and information freely and easily available to all.
The site currently contains the Communties and Local Government (CLG) Town Centre Statistics for 1999 to 2004 inclusive. These comprise net internal floorspace, employment and rateable value statistics and the boundaries for approximately 1,500 Areas of Town Centre Activity and 700 Retail Cores.
More information can be found below about:
Markers in the large map at the left hand side of the screen represent the locations of Areas of Town Centre Activity. Hover over a marker with the mouse to see its name. Click on a marker, and the statistics for that centre will appear in the table to the bottom of the screen while the boundary for the centre will appear in the smaller map to the right hand side of the screen. The statistics relate to the area enclosed by the boundary. Use the slider below the large map to change the year.
To navigate around the maps, drag them using your mouse, or use the arrow keys at the top left corner of the maps. Use the slider at the left hand side of each map to zoom in and out. For clarity, markers for medium and smaller centres are only visible at higher zoom levels.
To search for a centre, type all or part of the name into the text box below the smaller map on the right of the screen and click the 'Search' button, then select a centre name from the drop down list of results and click the 'Select' button.
The complete set of statistics for all centres for each year can be downloaded in csv or Excel format, and the boundaries in Shapefile format, by clicking on the relevant link at the lower right side of the screen.
Geofutures provides information and analysis allowing people, organisations and government to develop strategies for the future. Geofutures were commissioned by CLG to produce boundaries and statistics for consistently defined Areas of Town Centre Activity in England and Wales, using Government data and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology.
NRPF is a registered charity which aims to improve the understanding between private and public sectors of planning and its impact on retailing through dialogue and an active research programme. It organises conferences, produces newsletters and publications and maintains the unique Retail Planning Knowledge Base. The establishment of a solid and ongoing statistical base for retail planning is a long-term concern of the NRPF.
Communties and Local Government (CLG) originally commissioned Geofutures to produce boundaries and statistics for consistently defined Areas of Town Centre Activity in England and Wales, using Government data and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology.
This followed research to develop a model for Areas of Town Centre Activity, undertaken at the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis (CASA) at University College London, between 1996 and 2000. The model was tested in a pilot study focussing on London in 2002 and has now been used to generate boundaries and statistics for England and Wales.
This website contains boundaries and statistics relating to 1999 - 2004 data on employment, net internal floorspace and rateable value for approximately 1,500 Areas of Town Centre Activity and 700 Retail Cores.
It should be noted that the boundaries produced from this project are not the same as those defined in local plans and other policy documents and have no policy status. The name 'Area of Town Centre Activity' was chosen to avoid potential confusion with policy town centres as designated in development plans. In addition, the employment data relates only to those categories shown and do not sum to the total number of employees for each area.
To users of these statistics we recommend the following:
1. The most suitable use of the data is in comparisons between Areas of Town Centre Activity to give a general impression of the relative size and strength of a centre, as the model provides a consistent and objective approach to all England and Wales.
2. The statistics included in this project are estimates, and like all statistics will be subject to some level of error. Whilst we are confident that these statistics are robust and represent the best-available estimates at the present time, due to the difficulty involved in mapping data at fine geographic levels we encourage users to treat them with caution. In particular, take care in interpreting the employment statistics and note that accuracy diminishes where the numbers relate to small areas or small numbers of firms - typically those numbers of less than 100.
3. Do not attempt to combine the floorspace and employment statistics to give figures on floorspace per employee, for example. The floorspace statistics are derived from a different source to the employment statistics, and so have different definitions and classifications and are not directly comparable.
Source: Annual Business Inquiry (ABI/1)
Date: 1999 - 2004
Unit: Persons
Classifications: Convenience Retail; Comparison Retail; Service Retail; Offices; Civic and Public Administration; Restaurants & Licensed Premises; and Arts, Culture and Entertainment.
Notes/caveats: Figures include both full time and part-time employees - they are not Full Time Equivalents. Figures relate only to classifications listed and hence do not sum to the total employment in an area. See the metadata document for more details on exclusions.
Source: Valuation Office Agency (VOA) floorspace data
Date: 2000 - 2004
Unit: square metres
Classifications: By VOA bulk classes: Retail, Offices. By use classes: A1 (shops); A2 (financial & Professional services); and A3 (food and drink).
Notes/caveats: The floor area for retail and offices is net internal. Net internal area is similar to net lettable area and includes most space used directly in the course of an occupant's business. It excludes common areas, stairwells, foyers, walls, lift shafts, columns, etc. Vacant floorspace is included.
Source: Valuation Office Agency (VOA) rating data list
Date: 1995 and 2000
Unit: £
Classifications: By VOA bulk classes: Retail, Offices. By use classes: A1 (shops); A2 (financial & Professional services); and A3 (food and drink).
Notes/caveats: The data come from the 1995 and 2000 Rating lists and are based on valuations two years prior to the list. Vacant floorspace is included.
The employment and floorspace statistics used to create the boundaries and statistics are estimates and will consequently contain some level of error. This is the first time that these estimates have been published and the response to their publication will provide valuable feedback that will drive further data improvements.
Certain statistics are not available for certain years; in such cases the boundary is attributed a value of ‘N/A’ or -1.
Many of the boundaries will appear to extend beyond the high street into residential areas; this is because of the smoothing effect of the model. This will not affect the statistics since very little employment, or commercial floorspace is found within these areas. The boundaries shown are approximations of the boundaries generated by the model, and are used to aggregate the statistics.
Care should be taken when comparing statistics from Retail Cores with Areas of Town Centre Activity since the retail core boundaries were generated exclusively from retail data and do not take into account other town centre activities. Thus, it would be wrong to compare Tyndall's Park Retail Core (found in Bristol) with nearby Ashton Gate (which is an Area of Town Centre Activity) and not be aware that the different approaches to defining the zones may affect the statistical totals. (See the metadata document for more detail on the differences between the two types of area.)
It was not possible to identify local centres in larger conurbations from the full town centres model (which incorporates all the different facets of the town centre) and so a trimmed down 'retail only' model was used to identify the major retail concentrations or Retail Cores.
Care should be taken when comparing the employment and floorspace data. The two datasets (from the Office for National Statistics and Valuation Office Agency respectively) are based on different definitions so any ratios based on these may be subject to error. Further uncertainty is introduced because the employmee numbers listed represent total employment (no attempt has been made to generate Full Time Equivalents). The use class data have also been modelled (since the Valuation Office Agency do not classify floorspace in this way) and as a result there may be errors in some of the records.
Data is not presented for some areas of town centre since despite aggregation, details of individual firms or properties are disclosed; in such cases the boundary is attributed a value of ‘Disclosive’ or -2.
'a' means that the statistic is disclosive or relates to a town centre that is less than four hectares in size.
'b' means that data are not available for that particular year.
'c' means that data have been highlighted as unreliable following a consultation period with local authorities.
'd' means that a retail core is not available for that year.
Every effort has been made to ensure that the data contained on this website are accurate. Nevertheless, there may be some inaccuracies in the aggregations presented and Geofutures and CLG will not be held liable for any losses incurred from their use.
If you have any feedback regarding this project, please email it to:towncentres@communities.gsi.gov.uk
If you have any feedback regarding the application interface, please email it to:towncentres@geofutures.com
The Town Centres Statistics are released by CLG as part of the State of the Cities Database, a tool which allows the generation of reports about Cities, City Regions, Town Centres and Retail Cores. The information in the reports comes from a broad range of themes and subjects. This presentation gives details on how to find the Town Centres Statistics on the database.
CLG also produce commercial and industrial floorspace and rateable value statistics, including retail categories, for England and Wales down to local authority level and below. Details of how to access them is available here. Historic data back to 1974 is also available here.
CLG also produce a full range of other planning statistics, many of which will be relevant.