Case study: Understanding retail and

West Midlands Regional leisure flows in the West

Observatory Midlands

West Midlands Regional Observatory (WMRO) and

regional partners required analysis on retail and leisure
flows in the West Midlands to provide valuable spatial
evidence for the Integrated Regional Strategy (IRS) and
for the Local Economic Assessments (LEAs). By building
a detailed picture of retail and leisure patterns, Experian
have provided policymakers with the evidence required to
feed into a broader discussion on the inter-relationships
between places in the region and the appropriateness of
existing boundaries.

Requirement Experian’s Gravity Model – the

In various key policy documents,
including the Sub-National Review,
the government has demonstrated an
increased recognition of the need to
tailor policy to meet local and regional
needs. Following on from this, WMRO
and regional partners identified a need
for a detailed understanding of the
“Experian provided us retail and leisure flows in the region
with detailed evidence to feed into a wider study examining
functional geographies in terms of
and intelligence to a the economy, labour market, housing,
tight timescale. They geography and the environment.
have led the field in Solution
this type of work, and As a licensee of the largest range of
delivered a report that retail location information and lifestyle
data sources of any private sector
was innovative in ideas organisation in the UK, Experian
and approach.” combined both the data needed to
deliver the clients’ objectives with
our experience of delivering this
Stephen Howarth
type of retail and leisure analysis for
Deputy Chief Executive organisations including EMDA and
WMRO NERIP.
interplay between how attractive a
centre is and the distance people
would be prepared to travel to it – was
used to identify catchment areas and
takes into account both the ‘vitality
score’ and ‘distance decay’ of a centre.
This was then calibrated using results
from the ‘Where Britain Shops’ and
‘Big Night Out’ surveys in order to
identify ‘Travel to Shop’ and ‘Travel
to Leisure’ sub-regions, effectively
mapping new boundaries based on
these specific factors.
Detailed analysis of the retail and
leisure flows both within and outside
the region was then employed to
enhance the understanding of the
inter-relationships between the
traditional sub-regions. Different types
of shopping – grocery, out of town and
cultural and sporting activities – were
also taken into account in order to
provide WMRO and regional partners
with a greater level of detail to inform
the policy debate.
 Cardinal Place Embankment House 160 Dundee Street
80 Victoria Street Electric Avenue Edinburgh
London Nottingham EH11 1DQ
SW1E 5JL NG80 1EH T 44 (0) 131 228 8030
T 44 (0) 203 042 4000 T 44 (0) 115 941 0888 F 44 (0) 131 228 8040
F 44 (0) 207 746 8277 F 44 (0) 115 968 5003
www.experian.co.uk/publicsector

The final groupings for retail and Outcome

leisure have been compared and
contrasted with existing functional
geographies, for example those based
on the labour market, housing etc, as
well as retail and leisure flows in other
regions.
This research has provided
policymakers with a detailed
understanding of the inter-relationship
between places and the differences
between retail and leisure flows
for the region. It has confirmed the
appropriateness of the regional
boundaries, and has highlighted
specific areas which have strong
relationships outside of the region.

Retail sub-regions in the West Midlands The destinations of Solihull shoppers

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