There is an abundance of free data out there but getting right down to your own locality can be quite hard and time consuming. Where do you look for it, and ultimately will it be of any interest to your visitors? Think about what your hyperlocal audience would be most interested in and start from there. Could it be crime statistics, census data, what about education or the local property market? Only you can decide what you want to include, if any.
Providing data about your area may well be worth the effort as your website could possibly end up being the go-to place as a resource for local information. Some data can be left in place for a year before it needs updating, other data could be updated monthly/quarterly or as and when it becomes available. Remember to always acknowledge your source.
How do you present this data to your visitors?
There are lots of resources out there to help you analyse and present locally available data, for example as visualisations. The Data Journalism Handbook is especially useful.
In some cases the data could be in the form of a PDF which you could save and link to. It might be worthwhile having a link to Adobe Reader for visitors to download if they don’t already have it.
Occasionally you may just want to take a screenshot. A free bit of software called Jing is very simple and accurate, allowing you to take only the view you need rather than the whole page. It saves the image as a PNG which can be pasted in a web page.
Sources of local data
Offices for National Statistics (ONS)
Have a think about what might be of interest in your area and then call them and explain what you do and ask what sort of information is accessible for your local area. Their Neighbourhood Statistics tool is particularly useful for community journalists.
http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/datasets-and-tables/index.html
Nomis
Nomis has data available from the Census 2011 labour market and loads of other local data at postcode level, NG13, OX4, YO11 etc. I have used them many times in the past and they have always been extremely helpful. Again have some idea in advance as to what you are looking for.
Department Of Education
The UK Government’s Department of Education provides up-to-date school and college performance tables.
Education Ofsted reports & exam results – http://www.locrating.com/
Dept. Of Education http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/performance/
Police UK
Police UK holds data at a neighbourhood level, and its crime map tool is of particular hyperlocal interest.
Public Health
I have found two related websites that are really insightful (England-only, I’m afraid). Public Health England’s Local Health tool has four videos to help you get started, and a data map for when you’re ready to roll.
Local Health introduction – http://www.apho.org.uk/default.aspx?QN=HP_LOCALHEALTH2012
Local Health data map – http://www.localhealth.org.uk/#l=en;v=map4
Property Postcode Reports
We provide a new perspective on the property market for your catchment area postcodes. We are happy to provide a 
limited number of hyperlocal websites with a free monthly report.
http://www.propertypostcodereports.co.uk/catchment-area/
Have a look at a sample report for three Cardiff postcodes: Catchment Area Postcodes – Cen. Community Journalism
Stephen Kilbee runs Property Postcode Reports, which offers reports on residential properties by type in local areas. Property Postcode Reports are offering this service free of charge to a limited number of hyperlocal journalists. If you are interested, call Stephen on 0796 6699446 or email [email protected].
Homepage image accompanying this article is copyright Ben Sutherland.
