Local Trust is a place-based funder supporting communities to achieve their ambitions.
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< Back to main menuBig Local is an exciting opportunity for residents in 150 areas to create lasting change in their communities.
About the programmeEssential guidance, information and ideas for Big Local partnerships, to help you deliver change in your community.
Visit the support centreFind out how the principles of Big Local have inspired other programmes creating change in local communities.
Community Leadership Academy
Supporting volunteers involved in Big Local projects to develop their skills and knowledge.
Find out moreCreative Civic Change
This new approach to funding enabled communities to use art and creativity to make positive local change.
Find out moreThe latest news and stories from Big Local areas and beyond, exploring community power and resident-led change.
ExploreGo straight to…
Voices of Big Local
Inspiring stories from the people making change happen in their communities.
Read moreLocal Trust is a place-based funder supporting communities to achieve their ambitions.
Find out moreGo straight to…
< Back to main menuBig Local is an exciting opportunity for residents in 150 areas to create lasting change in their communities.
About the programmeEssential guidance, information and ideas for Big Local partnerships, to help you deliver change in your community.
Visit the support centreFind out how the principles of Big Local have inspired other programmes creating change in local communities.
Community Leadership Academy
Supporting volunteers involved in Big Local projects to develop their skills and knowledge.
Find out moreCreative Civic Change
This new approach to funding enabled communities to use art and creativity to make positive local change.
Find out moreThe latest news and stories from Big Local areas and beyond, exploring community power and resident-led change.
ExploreGo straight to…
Voices of Big Local
Inspiring stories from the people making change happen in their communities.
Read moreLocal Insight is an online platform that allows users to access open-source data specific to a Big Local area in a simple and visual way. Data is available on themes such as jobs and economy, population, services and housing.
You can download a step by step directions on how to navigate Local Insight here or get an overview below.
The website is available to all people doing Big Local work. If you would like an account or have any questions, please email lindsay.street@localtrust.org.uk
After logging in to Local Insight, you are taken to the map view. You can find the list of all Big Local areas under ‘Areas’ and then overlay them with datasets that interest you, found under ‘Data.’
You can also find more information about where the data is from and when, and get data for all Big Local areas under ‘Info’ – ‘Data for your areas.’
Another useful feature on Local Insight is to download a report that is available for each Big Local area. Below is an example of the summary page and then the report goes into much greater detail about each theme.
You can also find historical data in the reports from the graphs that are available for a number of datasets.
Local Insight data can help you:
An important note on Local Insight is that the figures you will find for Big Local areas are estimates and should not be considered an exact count. Numbers can oversimplify or be misleading when it comes to understanding an issue that is more complicated, so take it with a grain of salt.
The figures are useful to give a broad understanding of the area to use for your Big Local work and if you would like more information about using this data, we’re here to help!
If you are looking for a specific dataset but cannot find it, you can look at a list of all the datasets available on Local Insight. Contact Lindsay.Street@localtrust.org.uk for help accessing the data.
There is a vast range of national and local data available about local areas. You can view this handout which includes information about existing data as well as resources to help you collect it yourself.
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