The Richmond Pulse
Is Richmond getting better? One number a month, built only from official open data — crime, property, new businesses and development — each measured against the same period a year earlier. 50 means steady; the methodology is below.
Home to around 43,000 people (Census 2021).
Data through July 2026 · 50 = steady vs a year earlier
since April 2025 · dashes mark steady
- Safetystreet crime -7.6% yr (3149 vs 3408 offences near the centre) · weight 25%▲ 61
- Propertycouncil-wide prices -0.8% yr (UK House Price Index) · weight 25%▬ 48
- High streetnew businesses -4.8% yr (518 vs 544 registrations) · weight 20%▬ 46
- Developmentplanning applications +7.5% yr (1149 vs 1069 validated) · weight 15%▲ 56
- Air qualitynot enough monitor history for a year-on-year trend (Richmond town centre)—
The Richmond Mood
One question to members each month: how do you feel about living in Richmond right now? Residents’ own answer — published beside the Pulse, never inside it.
No answers yet this month — members answer in the app.
From police.uk, HM Land Registry & Companies House
Street-level crime counts near the centre — the Safety pillar
Official annual price change for the council area — Property
New business registrations by postcode district — High street
Validated applications — Development (London boroughs only)
NO2 monitoring — Air (London boroughs only)
What’s left out
A pillar with no reliable feed this month is excluded and the weights renormalise — a missing number is shown as missing, never invented. Every score compares this borough with its own past, not with its neighbours.
How it’s scored
Each pillar compares the trailing 12 months with the 12 before them (or uses the official year-on-year figure), so seasonal swings cancel out. The percentage change maps to a 0–100 score where 50 is “no change”, and the Pulse is the weighted average: safety 25%, property 25%, high street 20%, development 15%, air quality 15%. It measures direction of travel against Richmond’s own past — it is not a comparison with other areas, and it is not a judgement of Richmond itself.
- Safety — street-level recorded crime within a mile of the Richmond centre, from police.uk. Fewer offences score higher. Police recording practices change over time; the radius also reaches into neighbouring areas — consistently, so the trend holds.
- Property — the official UK House Price Index annual change for the borough’s local authority (Barnes and Richmond share the Richmond upon Thames figure).
- High street — new company registrations in TW9/TW10 from Companies House. A registration is intent, not an opening — but the rate of them tracks local confidence.
- Development — planning applications validated in the same districts, from the GLA Planning London Datahub. More applications = more investment intent.
- Air quality — nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) at the nearest open London Air Quality Network monitor (Richmond town centre — this monitor opened in February 2025, so a year-on-year trend arrives as it matures). Lower is better.
Scores run about two months behind the calendar (that’s how quickly the sources publish), refresh monthly, and self-correct as late data arrives. Small areas mean small numbers — single months wobble, which is why everything is measured over twelve. When a source feed itself misbehaves — councils occasionally migrate systems and their data sync collapses overnight — that pillar is excluded for the month rather than blamed on the borough, and the remaining pillars are reweighted. All data © Crown copyright, Open Government Licence. Air quality data from the London Air Quality Network © Imperial College London and the funding local authorities; readings under 12 months old are provisional.