Background information

Carrying out a Local Economic Assessment

The assessment is intended to be more than just a collection of data and statistics; it should “paint a picture” of the economic state of the borough and include a narrative which draws out the key themes, helping to direct local, sub-regional and regional strategies. In London, they will inform the Mayor’s strategies on economic development, transport and planning. They will provide a good and shared understanding of the economic challenges and opportunities facing different parts of London. They also should help ensure pan-London economic development investment is aimed at the right places.

Where do we start?

There are two ways to start an assessment, gather all the economic data you can find and try draw out the key points, or start with a narrative framework and use this to drive the data you want to focus on. 

The IDeA have done some extensive work on LEAs. You can find their guidance on the iDeA website

They also host a LEA community discussion to share ideas and good practice on the communities of practice website

Finding the data

Part of London Councils commitment to helping boroughs complete their LEA is to provide pointers to where some of the data required can be found. In the boxes below you will find links to finding the core data as well as links to other datasets which you may want to include as part of your LEA evidence.

The core datasets can be found here     

Other additional datasets can be found here