The E&C Monitor is a custom designed software solution that consists of relevant and accurate datasets and indicators from authoritative sources to provide insight into the economic and community performance of local authorities at a variety of spatial scales. The E&C monitor can be applied to meet the increased demand for data and evidence based decision making across the many functions within a local authority. Several local authorities across Ireland are now actively using the E&C Monitor.
The purpose of the Local Economic and Community Plan (LECP), as provided for in the Local Government Reform Act 2014, is to set out, for a six-year period, the objectives and actions needed to promote and support the economic development and the local and community development of the relevant local authority area, both by itself directly and in partnership with other economic and community development stakeholders.
The development of the LECP consists of four broad phases; (1) Preparation; (2) Public consultation; (3) Development of objectives and actions; and (4) Finalisation of the plan. An additional phase – (5) Monitoring and Review – is also expected to measure the progress of objectives and actions throughout the lifetime of the plan.
To assist in the process, Spatial Insight Solutions have developed an interactive Economic and Community E&C Monitor that will allow local authorities monitor a detailed inventory of key economic and community indicators from the main authoritative data suppliers in Ireland. This toolkit provides a ready to use monitoring platform for local authorities to view, analyse and share the most important and up to date information about their county (example for Clare below).
The E&C Monitor is a custom designed software solution that consists of relevant and accurate datasets and indicators from authoritative sources to provide insight into the economic and community performance of local authorities at a variety of spatial scales.
With practical experience in the LECP process and a very detailed knowledge of the key datasets available in Ireland, Spatial Insight Solutions have developed a comprehensive inventory of key indicators under 15 Themes that are available to view in an easy to use analytical dashboard system – providing users with the ability to compare and contrast data and indicators in seconds.
The E&C Monitor is also based on a hierarchy of geographies to provide a complete comparative analysis from the County to the Settlement level while providing contextual analysis with State and Regional trends.
How can the E&C Monitor be used?
The LECP Monitor can be used as an evidence back-bone for the entire LECP process and allows users to compare and contrast data and indicators in seconds. As the monitoring tool is developed in an on-line environment it can be used and shared by a wide number of user groups such as local authority Chief Executives, Director of Services, LECP committee members, Elected Representatives, planners and researchers, local community and business groups and importantly – the general public. In a new era of open data, data sharing and transparency, the LECP Monitor allows a local authority to publicly display its relative performance – both internally and externally.
- The LECP is starting new conversations about the economic and social futures of local authorities. Adding data and indicators to the conversation brings a new perspective to the topic. The LECP Monitor pushes the direction of the conversation from ‘anecdotal’ to ‘hard data’ evidence.
- LECP Monitor visualisations and dashboards can be shared via email (link), social media (Twitter, Facebook etc) or can be embedded in blogs or websites using a simple .html line of code.
- The entire LECP Monitor can easily be embedded within a local authority website. In fact, it’s the natural home for it. It’s a straight forward task for an IT technician (see details below).
- Data visualisations and dashboards can be exported from the Monitor as a .jpg or .pdf to be used as a graphical input in meetings, presentations or reports.
What are the key indicators behind the monitor?
Our ‘out-of-the-box’ and ‘ready-to-go’ set of monitoring indicators are based around 15 core themes. There is no data collection, data cleaning or processing required. All indicators have been carefully selected and pre-processed by Spatial Insight Solutions data analysts and integrated into the LECP Monitor for viewing and sharing. All datasets within the LECP Monitor are publicly available and therefore pose no threat to data confidentiality and do not contain any personal information relating to citizens.
- Population
- Households and Families
- Education
- Pobal HP Deprivation Index
- Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC)
- Housing
- Property Market
- Health and Well-Being
- Crime & Safety
- Economy and Employment
- Live Register
- Commuting and Jobs
- Environment
- Agriculture
- Local Authority Finances
How and when is the E&C Monitor updated?
Depending on the source of the indicator, the Monitor will be updated on a quarterly basis (January, April, July and October) with all datasets being updated with the relevant information as published.
How do I licence this product?
If you are interested in licencing the E&C Monitor for your local authority please contact our business development manager, Clara Malone, for further details.
For more details on the E&C Monitor please contact Clara Malone: clara@spatialinsight.ie
