The Street Naming and Numbering (SN&N) Team in accordance with the Public Health Act 1925 are authorised to name or rename any road. This is usually at the request of the residents, developer or occasionally the Parish Council.
New Development
- If you are a developer, have received approval for your development and/or are about to start work on the development, you should now contact the SN&N team in writing to commence the SN&N process. From start to finish the process can take up to 4 weeks, so the earlier we receive your request the sooner the new address can be assigned.
The new developments that are named and numbered by the SN&N team, range from large developments consisting of many roads and hundreds of properties, to smaller developments of just a few houses.
Before commencement of building work, developers should contact the authority to request an official address. Developers often have suggestions for street names which they would like to be considered and these are welcomed.
The SN&N team will initially check to ensure that the same or similarly sounding names do not already exist within the immediate area.
A process of consultation is then undertaken to obtain the agreement of the appropriate Parish and/or Ward Councillors for the area in which the development takes place. On the very rare occasions that agreement is not reached the matter is passed to the Portfolio Holder to make a final decision.
The house numbers are allocated once the road name has been agreed, usually by following the route that Royal Mail will use. Properties are numbered to the road that the front door has access to. When allocating numbers the Council also has to consider the ease of access to ensure the property can be located quickly and simply, especially by the emergency services.
Where new apartment blocks are built, the numbering of the apartments is such that emergency services can quickly determine which floor the apartment is located. For example, if there are 20 apartments per floor and 12 floors they would be numbered as follows:-
- ground floor: 1 -- 20
- 1st floor: 101 – 120
- 2nd floor: 201 – 220
- 11th floor: 1101 -- 1120
Confirmation of the approved addresses, together with layout plans are finally returned to the developers and copies sent to Royal Mail, emergency services, utility companies and the authorities’ internal departments.
It is essential that the developer provides nameplates that are sufficient in numbers and adequate to lead a visitor to the correct location, with any locational ambiguity kept to a minimum. Apartment blocks should have adequate and conspicuous signage at the main entrance(s) to indicate where within the block each apartment is located.
Single new dwellings and property conversions
If you are a developer or resident who has recently commenced work on either building a new dwelling or converting a property into flats, you will also need to contact the SN&N team in writing to register the property(s). A plan showing the location of the property and its access point(s) is always helpful to us, or alternatively reference to the planning application number so that we can view the plan from the Council’s records. For a single development or conversion, consultation is not required and can be approved within a matter of days. On receipt of the written request we will then be able to allocate an official address.
Once the address has been confirmed we will then advise the official address and the location of the new development to Royal Mail, emergency services, and the authorities’ internal departments.