Leeds HASP > E-food Desert Index @ 5347

Version: 1.0.1 | Published: 17 Jun 2025 | Updated: 14 days ago

E-food Desert Index

Dataset

DATA SERVICE

Summary

Alternative Name:

EFDI

Tier:

Tier 0

Documentation

Associated Media:

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09593969.2021.2017321

Description:

The e-food desert index (EFDI) is a multi-dimensional composite index for GB which measures the extent to which neighbourhoods exhibit characteristics associated with food deserts across four key drivers of groceries accessibility: - Proximity and density of grocery retail facilities - Transport and accessibility - Neighbourhood socio-economic and demographic characteristics - E-commerce availability and propensity The EFDI incorporates new indicators of online groceries (home delivery) provision and propensity to engage with online groceries, the latter drawn from an existing CDRC data resource, the 2018 Internet User Classification. In addition to urban deprivation, it highlights a new driver of inequalities in access to groceries, termed ‘e-food deserts’ – remote and rural neighbourhoods which suffer the dual disadvantage of comparatively poor access to physical retail opportunities alongside limited provision of online groceries. Note: England & Wales are scored, ranked and allocated to deciles separately to Scotland due to slight differences in the way three of the input variables are calculated in Scotland. This means that the index cannot be used to directly compare the score, rank or decile group between LSOAs in England and Wales and Data Zones in Scotland. However, it remains a robust resource for comparison between LSOAs and DZs within England & Wales or Scotland, and as a tool to explore groceries accessibility by small area or area type GB-wide. More details can be found in the EFDI User Guide.

How Published:

Data asset provided by the Healthy & Sustainable Places Data Service (ES/Z504336/1), originally produced by the CDRC (ES/L011840/1;ES/L011891/1)

Coverage

Spatial

Spatial Units:

Lower Super Output Areas (2011) - England & Wales
Data Zones (2011) – Scotland

Spatial Coverage:

Great Britain (GB): England
Wales
Scotland. Due to slight differences in some of the accessibility measures in the Transport and Accessibility domain between England & Wales and Scotland
it is not possible to directly compare EFDI scores or ranks between England & Wales and Scotland.

Temporal

Start Date:

01 January 2020

End Date:

01 December 2020

Frequency:

STATIC

Date of Latest Release:

27 February 2024

Date of First Release:

07 December 2020

Temporal Aggregation:

Geographic Bounding Box

Lower Left Latitude:

-7.70

Lower Left Longitude:

49.9

Upper Right Latitude:

1.9

Upper Right Longitude:

61.0

Provenance

Source:

Administrative data
Web-scraped data

Purpose:

Data were originally collected for administrative purposes.

Collection Status:

Complete

Method of Collection:

The E-food desert index gives a modeled measures of the extent to which neighbourhoods exhibit characteristics associated with food deserts based on data in the 2011 census paired with historic data (2011-2020). Open data were used in combination with web-scraped data to capture food store accessibility. 12 indicators are combined across 4 domains, using an index calculation to capture food access. The four domains all contribute 1/4 of the weighting of the overall index. The weightings of the indicators that make up each domain are outlined below. Proximity to and density of grocery retail facilities - Nearest large store (1/6) - Calculated using Geolytix Retail Points version 15 - Average distance to stores (1/6) - Calculated using Geolytix Retail Points version 15 - Count of stores within 1km (1/3) - Calculated using Geolytix Retail Points version 15 - Accessibility Index (1/3) - Custom built spatial interaction model (SIM) to simulate GB-wide grocery retail flows at the LSOA level Transport and accessibility - Drive time (1/3) - England: Journey Time Statistics 2017 (Table JTS0507) Wales: Welsh IMD 2019 Physical Access Domain Scotland: Scottish IMD 2020, Geographic Access to Services Indicators - Accessibility via public transport (1/3) - England: Journey Time Statistics 2017 (Table JTS0507) Wales: Welsh IMD 2019 Physical Access Domain Scotland: Scottish IMD 2020, Geographic Access to Services Indicators - Average travel distance (1/3) - Calculated using a custom-built spatial interaction model capturing all interactions between residential neighbourhoods and the physical grocery retail supply side. Neighbourhood socio-economic and demographic - No Car (1/3) - 2011 Census in England and Wales – KS404EW (Car or Van Availability); 2011 Census in Scotland –Question is identical in England, Wales and Scotland. - Pensioners (1/3) - 2011 Census in England & Wales and Scotland, accessed via Geolytix 2011 Census Pack derived small area census data variables 149, 151 and 162. Question is identical in England, Wales and Scotland. - Income Deprivation (1/3) - England: English IMD 2019 Income Deprivation Domain; Wales: Welsh IMD 2019: Income Domain; Scotland: Scottish IMD 2020 Income Domain. E-commerce - Online groceries availability (1/2) - Custom web-scraping from major UK retailers delivery ‘postcode checker’ - Propensity to shop online (1/2) - Internet User Classification 2018

Weighting:

The four domains all contribute 1/4 of the weighting of the overall index. The weightings of the indicators that make up each domain are outlined below. Proximity to and density of grocery retail facilities - Nearest large store (1/6) - Average distance to stores (1/6) - Count of stores within 1km (1/3) - Accessibility Index (1/3) Transport and accessibility - Drive time (1/3) - Accessibility via public transport (1/3) - Average travel distance (1/3) Neighbourhood socio-economic and demographic - No Car (1/3) - Pensioners (1/3) - Income Deprivation (1/3) E-commerce - Online groceries availability (1/2) - Propensity to shop online (1/2)