Street Numbering and Naming Procedure

New Estates

Most of the large developers are familiar with the Council’s street naming and numbering function and will usually approach the Council at an early stage with street naming proposals. Others are picked up from Building Control Commencement Sheets, which are issued to Technical Services on a monthly basis. Some are missed, as not all developers and builders use Building Control and instead use other Approved Inspectors. These properties are usually picked up at the eleventh hour by Council Tax when people move in and find they are without a postal address and that now essential item - the postcode.

If the developer/builder has no naming proposals the relevant Town/Parish Council will choose an appropriate name.

All street naming proposals are sent to the Royal Mail for approval of suitability for delivery purposes (ie not similar to any other street in the area including villages, which share the same postal town), and the Town Parish/Council for their comments. The Royal Mail is also consulted on complex layouts.

When the name has been agreed a layout plan and the Street Numbering and Naming Schedule is prepared which allocates a number and street name to the developer’s plot numbers. Purchasers of new properties should be very careful when issuing their “new address” details that they are using the POSTAL number and not the PLOT number as the two are rarely the same.

Number 13 is omitted (this was at the request of the Royal Mail several years ago as even in these enlightened times many people are superstitious) not to be replaced with 11a or 12a unless within established street numbering.

When the postcode has been received it is inserted into the Schedule and copies of the plan and schedule are distributed to internal departments and external bodies to enable them to utilise the data and update their records.

Commercial Premises

The same consultation procedure is applied to business parks although they can be difficult to number as units are built to be flexible in size for easy subdivision. Plots are also sold to suit the purchaser – one purchaser might buy three adjacent plots for one business – and another buy one plot to divide into three small units.

Individual Properties

Individual properties are generally built on odd parcels of land or in large gardens and numbered into the existing numbering usually by the addition of letters eg 21a etc.