'Risky places?': mapping gambling machine density and socio-economic deprivation

The aims of this project were to map the location and density of gambling machines in Britain; to explore whether geographic areas with higher densities of machines exist and to examine the socio-economic characteristics of these areas relative to others. Using geospatial analysis of premises records, we identified 8861 Machine Zones which were areas with a 400 meter radius around gambling machine venue and 384 High Density Machine Zones (HDMZ) with 1 or more gambling machine per hectare. There was a significant correlation between machine density and socio-economic deprivation. HDMZs had greater levels of income deprivation, more economically inactive people and a younger age profile than other areas; 37 % of those living in HDMZs were economically inactive compared with 33 % of those in non-machine areas. HDMZs were in seaside locations but also New Towns or satellite towns to major urban areas. Area affluence explains some of this pattern; of the New Towns with HDMZs, 78 % were in New Towns with a high proportion of low income areas. We therefore concluded that the distribution of gambling machines in Great Britain, in line with other international jurisdictions, displays a significant association with areas of socio-economic deprivation. The profile of the resident population living in HDMZs mirrors the profile of those most at-risk of experiencing harm from gambling. This spatial pattern has important implications for assessing the relationship between gambling availability and gambling-related harm, and for the future development of policy, harm-prevention and treatment strategies

Framing a public health approach to gambling harms in Wales: Challenges and opportunities

No abstract available

British high streets: from crisis to recovery? A comprehensive review of the evidence

In one of the most exhaustive evidence reviews into high streets, town centres and consumer habits ever conducted in Britain, researchers at the University of Southampton have highlighted that seismic shifts in consumer behaviour, combined with significant technological innovations, are having a deep and profound impact on the evolution of UK high streets.Funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and commissioned by the Government’s advisory group The Future High Streets Forum, this report comes at a time when radical shifts in consumer culture and practices are becoming increasingly apparent and widely discussed in public debate on what is changing UK town centres and high streets.This review offers an important resource for many groups with stakes in British town centres and high streets. It reflects the fact that reversing the decline of Britain’s high streets can only be achieved through research and informed discussion and by harnessing the goodwill and common purpose which has recently been displayed by the many stakeholders in the retail, hospitality, property and leisure sectors in working together to understand and address those challenges

Topsoil physico-chemical properties from the Glastir Monitoring and Evaluation Programme, Wales 2013-2016

This data set includes a range of physico-chemical properties measured from topsoil within a wide range of land use types across Wales, collected as part of the Glastir Monitoring and Evaluation Programme (GMEP). The properties included are: soil organic matter (loss on ignition (LOI)), derived carbon concentration, total soil organic carbon (SOC), nitrogen, total soil phosphorous, Olsen-phosphorous (within improved land only), pH, electrical conductivity, soil bulk density of fine earth, fine earth volumetric water content when sampled and soil water repellency - water drop penetration time. The monitoring programme was set up by the Welsh Government in 2013 to monitor the effects of the Glastir agri-environment scheme on the environment and ran from 2013 to 2016. The field survey element was based on a stratified random sampling design of 300 x 1km square sites across Wales, and was managed by the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology