Data sources, licences & disclaimers
Locale brings together free, publicly available data from official UK sources. Each dataset is used under its open-data licence, with attribution, as set out below. Last reviewed June 2026.
Where the data comes from
| Data | Provider | Licence |
|---|---|---|
| Schools register & metadata (GIAS) | Department for Education | OGL v3.0 |
| Welsh schools register (address list of schools) | Welsh Government | OGL v3.0 |
| NI schools register (school level enrolment data) | Department of Education NI | OGL v3.0 |
| Scottish schools register (School Roll and Locations) | Scottish Government | OGL v3.0 |
| Ofsted ratings & Early Years report cards | Ofsted | OGL v3.0 |
| Exam & performance data (KS2/4/5, destinations, census, workforce, finance) | Department for Education | OGL v3.0 |
| Parent View survey | Ofsted | OGL v3.0 |
| Street-level crime (England, Wales, NI) | police.uk / data.police.uk | OGL v3.0 |
| Recorded crime by council area (Scotland) | Scottish Government | OGL v3.0 |
| Sold prices (Price Paid Data) | HM Land Registry | OGL v3.0 (see attribution) |
| Deprivation, England (Indices of Deprivation 2019) | MHCLG | OGL v3.0 |
| Deprivation, Wales (Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation 2025) | Welsh Government | OGL v3.0 |
| Deprivation, Scotland (Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation 2020v2) | Scottish Government | OGL v3.0 |
| Deprivation, Northern Ireland (NI Multiple Deprivation Measure 2017) | NISRA (via Open Data NI) | OGL v3.0 |
| Census 2021 demographics | Office for National Statistics (via Nomis) | OGL v3.0 |
| Small-area household income estimates | Office for National Statistics | OGL v3.0 |
| Access to gardens & public green space | Office for National Statistics (OS data) | OGL v3.0 |
| Housing affordability (price-to-earnings ratio) | Office for National Statistics | OGL v3.0 |
| Council-tax bands (stock of properties) & levels | Valuation Office Agency / MHCLG | OGL v3.0 |
| Council tax bands & amounts (Scotland) | Scottish Government | OGL v3.0 |
| Broadband coverage (Connected Nations) | Ofcom | OGL v3.0 |
| Mobile coverage (Connected Nations, 4G / 5G) | Ofcom | OGL v3.0 |
| Environmental noise (strategic noise mapping) | Defra | OGL v3.0 |
| Air quality (modelled background NO₂ / PM2.5, PCM 1 km maps) | Defra | OGL v3.0 |
| Health & care ratings (care directory with filters) | Care Quality Commission | OGL v3.0 |
| Flood risk & warnings (England) | Environment Agency | OGL v3.0 |
| Flood hazard maps (Scotland) | Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) | OGL v3.0 |
| Flood risk maps (Wales) | Natural Resources Wales (via DataMapWales) | OGL v3.0 |
| Bathing water quality (classifications) | Environment Agency | OGL v3.0 |
| Energy performance certificates (EPC) | MHCLG - Get energy performance of buildings data | EPB reuse terms |
| Planning applications | PlanIt (aggregates UK local-authority planning registers) | Third-party - see note |
| Planning constraints (designations, listed buildings) | MHCLG planning.data.gov.uk (incl. Historic England) | OGL v3.0 |
| Amenities, stations, EV charging & base map data | OpenStreetMap contributors | ODbL (data) · tiles © CARTO / © Mapbox |
| Postcode & place geocoding | postcodes.io (ONS / OS Open Names / Royal Mail) | OGL v3.0 |
Planning application data is provided by PlanIt, a third-party service that aggregates UK local-authority planning registers (there is no official national planning- application API). Each application links to the council’s own record, which is the authoritative source for its status and detail.
Attribution
- Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
- Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. This data is licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
- © OpenStreetMap contributors. OpenStreetMap data is available under the Open Database Licence (ODbL); map tiles © CARTO and © Mapbox.
- Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026; Royal Mail data © Royal Mail copyright and database right 2026; National Statistics data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (via postcodes.io).
- Energy performance certificate data is used under the Energy Performance of Buildings reuse terms.
The full Open Government Licence is at nationalarchives.gov.uk and the Open Database Licence at opendatacommons.org. The datasets Locale builds from OpenStreetMap are made available under the ODbL.
Disclaimers
- Information only, no warranty. The information is compiled from third-party sources and provided “as is” for general information. It may be incomplete, out of date, approximate or contain errors, and is not guaranteed to be accurate or current.
- Not professional advice. Nothing here is financial, legal, property, investment, tax or school-admissions advice. Do not rely on it for any decision without independent verification.
- Verify with the official source. Always confirm before acting - school admissions and catchment with the local authority and school; council-tax band with the Valuation Office Agency; energy rating with the EPC certificate; school performance and inspection with Ofsted, the DfE and the school directly. Figures such as “nearest station”, prices and amenity counts are indicative.
- School inspection data. Ofsted/DfE information reflects the latest data published at the time of compilation; grades and judgements change, and some inspections no longer carry a single overall grade. Always check the live Ofsted report and the school’s own information for the current position.
- External links. Locale links to official and third-party websites for verification; we are not responsible for their content or availability.
- No affiliation. Locale is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or operated by any of the data providers named above.
- Limitation of liability. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we accept no liability for any loss or damage arising from use of, or reliance on, this information. Nothing in these disclaimers excludes liability that cannot be excluded under applicable law.
Privacy
Locale shows information about places and buildings drawn from public data; it does not require an account and does not ask for personal information. Searches are processed to return results and are not used to identify you.
Spotted something wrong? Data is only as good as its source - please check the linked official source, which is authoritative.