My intention at present as hinted in my last post is to use the data out there to understand my local area, both the physical environment, demographics and other issues in society. Developing further the map in my last post, I've expanded it to cover the whole of Tower Hamlets and also incorporating details on different council tax bands.
Excuse my slightly shoddy legend implementation- I'm constrained on coding because of using Blogger as my platform rather than hosting my own pages, however it does what it's meant to do, though the colours appear off because the colours on the map are partially transparent.
The caveat
I'm using council tax bands as a proxy for value of property (which they nominally measure, albeit in 1991 terms). There are three main characteristics that I would assume determine value, being location, size and quality of the building, clearly, it is difficult to control for all factors. I have an FOI request out for the type of housing stock (flats/houses/maisonettes and number of bedrooms) from the Valuation Office Agency, though what data they will supply I don't know (I've asked for it by postcode but I imagine I will get it on a higher level).
Read the map based on the area of a given colour that is visible, not the area of the circle as a whole. Ideally I'd plot individual properties, but I don't think I will be able to obtain this level of detail.
Zooming in on the map gives a much better level of detail.
Zooming in on the map gives a much better level of detail.
The (brief) analysis
Looking at the borough as a whole, there is a north-south divide in the distribution of properties between the council tax bands, though, perhaps most accurately, it is a waterside-inland split. One merely needs to follow the Thames from St Katharine Dock round to the Limehouse Marina and round the Isle of Dogs as well as along the various canals. I've noticed a few other pockets of higher value properties which appear to occur in areas with a number of period properties, such as Spitalfields (though of course centrality will have a big impact), Columbia Road and around Sidney Square.
In Wapping, there is a larger number of properties rated band D and above, though there is a swathe of greens and yellows driven by the Greenbank estate and over towards Prusom Street. Whilst it is inaccurate to label band B & C properties as 'low value' (properties on the Greenback go for c.£250-£300k), but the council tax banding gives an indication of relative value and it is striking that there appears (at least graphically) that the relative value of properties is heavily determined by location.
One last note, the map shows nicely that the last undeveloped spot with respect of residential property in the Wapping area other than the parks and the John Orwell centre is...the News International site. What value people put on its future properties is yet to be discovered.
One last note, the map shows nicely that the last undeveloped spot with respect of residential property in the Wapping area other than the parks and the John Orwell centre is...the News International site. What value people put on its future properties is yet to be discovered.
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H |
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H |
