The Fulham Pulse
Is Fulham 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 66,000 people (Census 2021).
Data through May 2026 · 50 = steady vs a year earlier
since April 2025 · dashes mark steady
- Safetystreet crime +2.0% yr (13981 vs 13705 offences near the centre) · weight 25%▬ 47
- Propertycouncil-wide prices -10.9% yr (UK House Price Index) · weight 25%▼ 28
- High streetnew businesses +0.8% yr (1118 vs 1109 registrations) · weight 20%▬ 51
- Developmentplanning applications -10.3% yr (867 vs 967 validated) · weight 15%▼ 42
- Air qualityNO2 -7.3% yr (Putney monitor, 17 µg/m³) · weight 15%▲ 55
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 Fulham’s own past — it is not a comparison with other areas, and it is not a judgement of Fulham itself.
- Safety — street-level recorded crime within a mile of the Fulham 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.
- High street — new company registrations in SW6 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 (Putney — Hammersmith & Fulham currently has no open LAQN site). 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.