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Hello,

This isn't a particularly technical reply but I'm not too concerned that OA/LSOA boundaries don't match street blocks exactly; although I am relatively pleased with the level of fit they seem to show with large features such as major roads and areas of open space.

I work for a district local authority and we are currently using LSOA level data to evaluate criminal and environmental problems across our Borough and inform the location of community safety environmental projects.

We chose LSOAs as our basic assessment unit because of the availability of IMD data as an initial filter (from 18 LSOAs to 9) and our need to manually aggregate our own environmental complaints/requests for service data at some level above street.

We don't have enough money to improve an entire LSOA however so in order to determine which block / street gets the money officers involved in the project have blended quantitative data with insights gained from site assessment and consultation.

When for example a street was considered high need with good opportunities for improvement and fell just outside of the selected LSOA boundary we have used a rule of thumb and included it in the scheme.

For us a future use of OAs when we get our all singing environmental gazetteer on line would be as containers for complaints data allowing us to express them as rates and prioritise works. A strong linkage to postcodes and street block might be an advantage for this purpose but I still think that in terms of public policy and action the quantitative picture can only narrow the lens so far before specific assessment of an area and the individuals within it becomes vital.

Apologies for the length of this reply!

Oh, and what on earth is a TOID(S)?