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Check Local
Last updated: 29 September 2026

Data sources

Every figure on Check Local comes from a published UK dataset, which we re-process and present in good faith. Most of these are released by government on a fixed schedule, so the "as of" date you previously saw in the area sidebar is the same for everyone looking at a given dataset. This page lists each source, who publishes it, and how often it updates.

Data is provided for general information only and is not financial, legal, surveying or estate-agency advice. Where a figure and the underlying source disagree, the original source is authoritative. See our Terms for the full position on accuracy.

Places & boundaries

  • Sources: the ONS Index of Place Names and ONS boundaries (built-up areas and their subdivisions, parishes, local authorities, electoral wards), National Records of Scotland settlements, and Ordnance Survey Open Names — all under the Open Government Licence; and OpenStreetMap, © OpenStreetMap contributors, under the Open Database Licence.
  • What it covers: Which places exist and what they are called come from ONS and Ordnance Survey — we never create a place from OpenStreetMap alone. The outline drawn for a place is the best boundary available, and the map says which: an official boundary; a neighbourhood outline drawn by OpenStreetMap contributors (most of London's neighbourhoods have no official boundary); an electoral ward bearing the neighbourhood's name, used as the nearest official shape and marked approximate; or, where none exists, an approximate area we calculate. OpenStreetMap also supplies alternative and historic place names used by search.
  • Updates: When we rebuild the place layer, typically after each ONS boundary release.

Safety & crime

  • Source (England & Wales): Police.uk open data (Home Office), published under the Open Government Licence.
  • What it covers: Street-level crime and anti-social behaviour reports, aggregated to each area.
  • Scotland: Police Scotland publishes recorded crime at council level only — street-level incidents, categories and the crime heat map are not available for Scottish areas, and we say so on the page rather than showing blanks.
  • Updates: Monthly, roughly two months in arrears.

Schools & education

  • Sources (England): Ofsted inspection outcomes and the Department for Education (DfE) school performance tables, including Progress 8, Attainment 8 and KS2 progress measures.
  • Sources (Wales): The Welsh Government's address list of schools in Wales and the Care Inspectorate Wales childcare register. Welsh schools are inspected by Estyn and use the Capped 9 points score — Ofsted ratings and Progress 8 do not apply and are never shown for Welsh schools.
  • Sources (Scotland): The Scottish Government school contact details dataset and the Care Inspectorate childcare register. Scottish schools are inspected by Education Scotland — Ofsted ratings and Progress 8 do not apply and are never shown for Scottish schools.
  • What it covers: School type, phase, inspection ratings, pupil numbers and headline results.
  • Updates: Ofsted ratings monthly; performance measures annually after each results cycle; Welsh registers as republished.

Transport

  • Source: NaPTAN (National Public Transport Access Nodes), Department for Transport.
  • What it covers: Bus, tram, rail and tube stop locations near each area. Live arrival times are not stored — we link out for those.
  • Updates: Periodically as DfT republishes the dataset.

House prices

  • Source (England & Wales): HM Land Registry Price Paid Data, published under the Open Government Licence.
  • What it covers: Completed residential sales used to derive the rolling 12-month median price, year-on-year change and recent transactions.
  • Scotland: Transaction-level sales are held by Registers of Scotland and are not open data — Scottish figures, where shown, are council-level medians and labelled as such.
  • Updates: Monthly. Figures lag completion and exclude some transaction types (e.g. most new-build and commercial).

Deprivation

  • Sources: English Indices of Deprivation (IMD), Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government / ONS; Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation (WIMD), Welsh Government / StatsWales; Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD), Scottish Government.
  • What it covers: The relative deprivation decile for each small area. Deciles are ranked within each country — an English IMD decile, a Welsh WIMD decile and a Scottish SIMD decile are separate scales and are never compared directly.
  • Updates: Roughly every three to four years when the indices are rebuilt.

Population & census

  • Sources: ONS Census 2021 and mid-year population estimates (England & Wales); National Records of Scotland small-area population estimates and Scotland's Census 2022 (Scotland).
  • What it covers: Population counts and demographic context for each area. Scotland's census ran in 2022 (a year after England & Wales), so demographic vintages differ slightly across the border.
  • Updates: Census every ten years; estimates annually.

Energy & environment

  • Sources: Energy Performance Certificates (EPC) register; DEFRA air-quality modelling; fuel-poverty statistics.
  • What it covers: Property energy efficiency, nitrogen-dioxide levels and household fuel poverty.
  • Updates: EPCs continuously as certificates are lodged; air quality and fuel poverty annually.

Connectivity & infrastructure

  • Source: Ofcom Connected Nations broadband and mobile coverage.
  • What it covers: Gigabit, superfast and full-fibre availability at small-area level.
  • Updates: Twice a year.

Development & what's coming

  • Sources: the Planning Data platform (planning.data.gov.uk, Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government) — planning applications and brownfield land — and councils' brownfield land registers, both published under the Open Government Licence; and a short list of named schemes (new stations, regeneration areas, new towns) that we write ourselves, each linked to the body that runs it and checked by a person before it is shown.
  • What it covers: Named schemes, brownfield sites with a housing figure, and planning applications whose own description names ten or more homes. Planning applications cover only the English councils that publish to the platform — not all do yet — and each area page says whether its council does. Wales and Scotland show named schemes only.
  • Updates: Monthly with the platform's releases; brownfield registers yearly; named schemes reviewed at least every six months, with the date shown.
  • Limits: A permission can take years to build and some never are. “Homes planned” counts brownfield register sites only, so greenfield allocations in local plans are not included.

Amenities & green space

  • Sources: NHS service directories, Ordnance Survey and OpenStreetMap.
  • What it covers: GP surgeries, pharmacies, supermarkets, libraries, EV charge points, sports facilities and parks.
  • Updates: Periodically as each provider republishes.

AI Rundowns

"Rundowns" are written by an AI model from the statistics above — they don't introduce new facts. They can still simplify or get things wrong, so treat the raw numbers as the source of truth.

Spotted an error?

If a figure looks wrong, tell us at [email protected] and we'll check it against the source.