Housing completions & town centre footfall#

Data on residential completions from PlanningDataHub was brought together with HSDS data for the first time by UCL data science intern Matt – linking footfall growth to the completion of housing within 800m of the town centre . Matt's analysis found: 

• Both residential and non-residential development has a positive relationship with footfall growth in town centres. All town centres with recent increase in housing also saw increased visitor footfall and worker footfall. 
• However, not all footfall is attributable to development: some town centres saw footfall growth without many recent completions. 
• Resident, visitor, and worker footfall tend to increase together. Potential factors include the impact of planning policy, such as mixed-use developments, or other ‘agglomeration’ effects of increased residential and commercial occupancy and retail use. 

Impact of Major Sporting & Cultural Events #

The GLA's major events team worked with Rachel to understand event attendance and how businesses near venues were impacted on event days. Events included Formula E London E Prix at the Excel, the Major League Baseball Trafalgar Square takeover, NFL London, and Ride London at Bank Station.

• For the Formula E London E-Prix at the Excel, comparing event days to ‘comparator’ non-event days illustrated their potential to double spending in the surrounding area – although spend growth did not match increases in footfall:
  • Visitor footfall increased 8x between 3-6pm in the event location and 19.5x in post-event hours (9pm-12am)
  • The largest change in spend occurred between 9pm-midnight (+128.9%) in the event location and between 3-6pm in the surrounding area (+105.3%)
• Comparing multiple event types at the same venue showed differences in unique crowds' impact on local area. At Tottenham Stadium, peak spend on event day for the Beyoncé Renaissance World Tour concert was 33.7% more than peak spend for the afternoon NFL London Game.

24 hour London Evidence Base update#

London at Night: An Updated Evidence Base for a 24 Hour City was published in March, highlighting how activity across London after 6pm night has changed since 2018. Compiled by GLA economists Yiqiao and Nick using HSDS and other data sources, this research will inform citywide and local planning, including night-time strategies across London boroughs. Key findings include: 

• One in every four pounds is spent at night. Night-time spend typically peaks on a Friday evening in London as a whole. However, in the CAZ, spend peaks on Thursday evenings.
• Over 2 million visitors are out-and-about in London on a typical weekend night between 9pm and midnight. Around 1 million are out even later, between midnight and 3am, while the early evening (6pm-9pm) typically sees 3-4 million visitors. 
• The West End and other iconic destinations are the most visited town centres in the CAZ. The West End is by far the busiest destination from 6pm to midnight, with more than 140,000 visitors on a typical Thursday to Saturday night. 
• Travel hubs are also important for night-time activity. Town centres around many of London’s largest national rail stations are well represented in the top 20 hotspots.